Vague on numbers, study of school funding OK’d
Posted on Thursday, August 14, 2008
The state House and Senate Education committees approved on Wednesday with little discussion and with only slight revision a study for funding an adequate education in Arkansas that contains no definitive amount.
The move came after Senate Chairman Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, changed his mind. He had complained Tuesday that legislators were ignoring their responsibilities by presenting such a vague report.
The “adequacy study” calls for increasing base, or “foundation,” state and local public school funding by between 1. 3 percent and 2. 2 percent (or between $ 34 million and $ 59 million ) a year. It also recommends an unspecified additional amount to reimburse school districts for transportation costs because of diesel fuel price increases and to further study how to pay for teacher health insurance.
Argue said after the meeting that upon further reflection he decided he can live with the range of possible increases for the Legislature to pick from when it meets in 2009. He said the foundation funding, which mostly is for school employee salary cost-of-living increases, should be dealt with as a package with transportation and insurance funding.
“It’s not that we’re funding based on availability of dollars,” Argue said. “It’s a matter of quantifying our other needs before we decide on a minimum [cost-of-living allowance ] or something beyond minimal.”
To avoid increases in insurance premiums for school employees and school retirees, the state would have to pay another $ 35 million in 2009 and $ 46 million in 2010.
Rep. Bill Abernathy, D-Mena, has said that school districts need at least another $ 24 million a year for the next two years for transportation. But he agreed to remove that dollar figure from the study’s recommendation to accommodate Argue’s concern. Argue felt that further study would yield figures that would properly fund transportation and didn’t want to lock the state into a number.
There was a cautious reaction from representatives of education groups.
Rich Nagel, executive director of the Arkansas Education Association teachers union, said he would prefer the high end of the range of increases plus more money for teacher health insurance.
“We kind of view all this together and that’s the way it should be viewed,” Nagel said. “I can’t tell you how likely that is.”
Tom Kimbrell, executive director of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators, said he doesn’t view transportation and insurance as competing for state dollars.
“We know there is a finite amount of money out there but we also know that the Supreme Court has said you must fund education to an adequate level,” Kimbrell said. “The debate is whether health insurance is part of adequacy. I would say if you can’t provide a workable health insurance program for these teachers and staff members it’s going to impact an ability to provide an adequate education much like if you can’t get kids to school you can’t provide an adequate education.”
Kimbrell faulted legislators for not increasing funding for technology and extra duty. Technology remained at $ 201 per student after legislative staff reported that districts actually spent only about $ 59 per student. Extra-duty funds were kept at $ 51 per student after legislative staff found that much of extra-duty expenditures went to stipends for coaching duties, which aren’t considered part of an adequate education.
Some legislators said a more detailed look at insurance is needed, including whether the benefits are too great.
Foundation funding amounts to $ 2. 66 billion this fiscal year for the state’s 245 districts and 459, 000 students.
The per-student amount would increase from the current $ 5, 789 to $ 5, 864 in fiscal 2010 and $ 5, 939 in 2011, according to Richard Wilson, assistant director of the Bureau of Legislative Research.
Districts aren’t required to spend the money on any particular item as long as standards are met, such as providing minimum teacher salaries.
Included in the current foundation amount is money for the $ 131 minimum monthly premium that districts are required by the state to contribute toward school employee insurance plans. Districts may contribute more if they choose.
Also included is $ 286 per student for transportation. Abernathy has said that two-thirds of the districts spend more than that.
On that subject, legislators heard from Lance Taylor, executive director of the Arkansas Activities Association, which is trying to reach a consensus among member schools for realigning conferences to reduce transportation costs.
Rep. Mike Kenney, R-Siloam Springs, complained that the nearest road game for his hometown high school is Mountain Home, about 150 miles away.
“Something has to be done,” Kenney said, warning Taylor that the Legislature may address the issue in the 2009 session if the sports group fails to act.
Taylor said he understood and that his group is working on it.
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