The seeds of change for school finance are being sewn in the Senate Committee on Education. Hearings begin today on a plan led by its chairman, Republican Steve Abrams, who for years has been itching to get at the formula. SIX DISTRICTS will serve as guinea pigs if Abrams’ plan gets legs.
The Arkansas City senator’s goal is to devise a different funding matrix that, among other things, takes the focus off assessment test scores as markers of a district’s success to student outcomes. Districts whose students upon graduation lead successful lives will be rewarded while those that don’t will be dinged.
The new formula would eliminate weighting — the things that make each of the state’s 304 school districts unique, including the number of students with special needs, those enrolled in vocational education, are considered at-risk, are bilingual, take the bus, or are districts that have fewer than 1,750 students.
Instead, a simple head count of students will be used in a variety of formulas. Base state aid per pupil will remain at $3,820, still down from $4,492 in 2009.
Though legislators have complained the recently dumped finance formula was too complicated, Abrams’ is no piece of cake.
To address equitable funding between rich and poor districts, the new formula considers a district’s mean, or midpoint, rate of income as reported by individual income tax returns; the average values of single-family homes; and the assessed valuation per pupil from the preceding school year.
Once compiled, those figures will be multiplied and a “cube root” will be devised for each district. From there the math gets fuzzy, but the outcome is a formula that ranks districts according to their inherent wealth or lack thereof.
The new formula uses U.S. Census data to determine poverty levels, replacing the number of students who qualify for free and reduced-priced lunches. In Allen County, for example, almost 60 percent of our students qualify for the federal lunch program. Our poverty rate is 17 percent, up against the state’s 13.7 percent.
Another formula addresses rural areas that must use buses frequently. It takes a district’s geographic size in square miles; divided by its population of individuals age 5 to 17; multiplied by district enrollment; and then multiplied by $1,500.
To determine student success, districts are to go back five years to find out graduation rates; what graduates received remedial help if they went on to college; how many graduated from college or received certification in a trade; signed on with the military; or secured a job that pays more than 250 percent above the federal poverty level.
Each of those success marks is then figured into a formula that determines state aid or penalties if a district yields poor results.
The districts are designated as “innovative” and include Marysville and Hugoton on the small end and Blue Valley and Kansas City as representing large districts. Concordia and McPherson lie in between.
If legislators find favor, the new formula will be extended to about one-third of the state’s districts for the 2016-17 school year and then implemented full scale the year after that.
In the meantime, schools must contend with current funding levels that will remain frozen for the next two years under a block grant program.
No doubt, school officials across the state are crunching the numbers to see how they will fare under the new scenario. With no chance of going back, it’s a whole new ball game.
— Susan Lynn
Education finance proposal puts focus on school outcomes
