The new school finance legislation is not an out-and-out win for public schools. MOST WORRISOME, is how up to $10 million from the state’s general fund will go to tax breaks to corporations that donate to private school scholarship funds. LOCAL SCHOOL administrators are pretty pleased with the overall finance package. That’s because for so long they have had to work triage, only to be pulled to the brink of extinction with the threat of massive cuts to transportation and other essential services.
Yes, they’ll get some much needed additional funding, but programs also were cut to make the numbers appear more robust.
Of most concern for Iola schools is the elimination of helping districts finance new facilities. Up until now, Iola has been able to rely on a 49 percent match from the state if it were to build a new school. The state match is figured on a district’s needs.
That window closes July 1.
Iola’s $25 million school bond issue now has one chance to capture that $12.5 million in state aid to build a new elementary school complex and substantially improve the existing high school and middle school.
The special election is June 24.
Also eliminated were funds dedicated to help non at-risk students become proficient in math and reading. These are students who have scored below proficiency or failed to meet state standards and need additional help in these subjects, including tutors.
It’s also of note legislators amended the formula for how districts base their mill levies devoted to schools. Districts now can use the base state aid per pupil of $4,490, up from $4,433. Either figure is considerably more than actual state funding per pupil, $3,852.
The artificial number is derived from a report commissioned by the Legislature to study what an adequate education should cost in Kansas.
The artificial cap allows school districts to get more bang from their buck for each mill levied for schools.
The outcome of the law will be to drive more students from public to private schools through financial incentives.
The legislation allows a private company to pay up to $8,000 in tuition per student to attend a private school. Stipulations include the student be considered at-risk because of being from a low-income household and the student is currently attending either a Title I Focus School or a Title I Priority School.
Priority schools are the 5 percent that record the lowest in state assessments. Thirty-three schools are in this category.
Focus schools are the 10 percent with the largest gap between the lowest 30 percent of students and the state’s highest performing 30 percent of students. Because of the wide disparity between performance it’s a good guess the needs of struggling students are not being met. Sixty-six schools meet this criteria.
By a large majority, both of these classifications of schools are in the metropolitan areas of Wichita, Kansas City and Topeka.
Contributors to the scholarships will be able to deduct 70 percent of the stipend.
And while the public schools in southeast Kansas don’t have to feel threatened by the program, we’ll all help pay for the tax credit program that will siphon money from the state general fund.
The private schools, unlike public schools, are not required to practice non-discrimination, especially when it comes to students who have special needs and are expensive to educate.
They also are not required to be accredited, participate in state assessments or report any academic performance or student information to the state board, local school districts or parents.
Is this a good use of taxpayer money?
It’s all a matter of perspective.
— Susan Lynn
New finance law puts Iola schools up against a wall
