Lawmakers want time to fix school funding problems, says Davis

By Lynn A. Wade

Nevada Daily Mail

Nevada R-5 school superintendent Dr. Ted Davis told the board of education that the state has asked the courts to put a lawsuit relating to the school funding formula on hold for the duration of the upcoming legislative session, to give lawmakers a chance to fix the problems with the way the state allocates money to school districts.

Nevada R-5 is one of 256 schools acting as the plaintiffs in the case, which asserts that the funding formula is unfair and does not meet constitutional muster.

The existing formula came about after a similar problem with school funding surfaced in 1993.

"This is exactly what happened then," Davis said. At the time, a court case was pending but legislators re-evaluated the issue and came up with the current formula.

"They were able to do something to fix it then. Maybe that can fix it now," Davis said.

Davis noted that one important facet of the suit relates to capitol improvement funds. In many states, he said, the state contributes to capitol improvements for schools, but Missouri does not.

"Who knows what tomorrow will bring," he said.

There are some districts with "hold harmless" status, yet even one of the largest of these, the St. Louis school district has joined in the suit, which Davis said seems to indicate an equitable funding system is in everyone's best interest.

"The greatest thing that could happen would be if they (legislators) could get this changed before the suit," Davis said.

In other business, the board heard several reports, including one on the drug-free schools program, one on technology, the workings of the district's library system, and toured a hands-on, career-oriented classroom in which middle school students experience a variety of simulated professional situations through an array of 18 computer modules known as the Practical Technology Lab.

With respect to technology, Assistant superintendent Christi Peterson offered a report on the school's overall technology assets.

Peterson said the state requires a report on how much technology schools have, and how it's used.

Overall, the district has 1,203 computers at various locations, with computers available to students and staff in every school and at Heartland Behavioral Health Services, where the district provides educational services for the facility's Missouri students. That amounts to about 3.1 students per instructional computer, which is slightly higher than the state average of 3.3 students per computer. About half of the computers are four years old or older, and the district's main focus at this time is in continuing to upgrade and improve existing systems, Peterson said.

"We feel like we have enough computer labs, but we will need to upgrade. These items have a limited life. They don't have a long-term life," she said, comparing the need to replace the nuts and bolts of computer systems to the need to maintain and replace school buses.

Most of the computers have Internet capability, and through wired (and wireless, primarily at the Bowman Building) technology, access is abundant, but slow at peak times.

In the future, the district plans to expand its broadband capability through MORENET, its Internet service provider, which MORENET will do at no cost to the district, under a program that enables the service to provide discounted services to public schools, Peterson said. Once that's completed, the district hopes to add ParentLink to its services, an Internet service that enables parents to check students grades and monitor their progress online.