Kansas Senate restores lost school funds

The Kansas Senate recently approved a two-year education plan that aims to return lost money to school districts and allow those districts to have more control of their budgets.

Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said in a phone interview she believes the two-year plan "would provide some stability for school districts to show the legislature wants to start reinvesting in education.

"(During) the recession, we had to cut education for at least three years in a row," Schodorf said. "It was very difficult on districts."

Senators worked for five and a half days with Gov. Sam Brownback's education formula. But Schodorf said that formula didn't propose any additional funding for the coming school year, which she described as "critical."

"We believed that the 2012-2013 year was critical for districts to start building back in funding," she said. "Perhaps in the legislature, we could start building back for education, too. It may be unusual, but the Senate passed the bill for two years in a row."

The approved plan is a combination of the governor's formula and the Senate Education Committee's own formula. Senators approved two bills as part of their plan to "adequately fund K-12 classrooms, increase local control and promote fiscal responsibility."

One of the bills, HB 2200, approved 31-9, would reset the base state aid per pupil, or BSAPP, at $3,854 for 2012-2013 and $3,928 for the 2013-2014 school year.

That measure would raise the BSAPP $74 for each of those years. This would increase the maximum local option budget, or LOB, the state allows districts from 31 percent to 32 percent. Originally the bill would have added $37 to the equalization fund and $37 to the BSAPP, which is where the $74 comes from.

This bill uses the existing school finance formula, but returns $50 million a year for the next two years to the base. It will also get the district to 92.5 percent toward equalization for the coming school year and 100 percent the year after. Currently, equalization is at 81.6 percent.

Sen. Bob Marshall, R-Fort Scott, said the original plan of dividing the $74, would be more advantageous for smaller communities "because their LOBs don't raise money for them.

"For our school districts, I do like the $74, though, because it gets us more money," Marshall said. "But we do have a problem with overspending in the state and the $37 and $37 would have kept our total budget down."

USD 234 school board President Janet Braun said the BSAPP increase will definitely be helpful.

"We've had to make over $1 million dollars in cuts and this will help put some of those cuts back in place," Braun said.

The other component of the plan to localize control of the budget was passed by an overwhelming majority, 40-0.

HB 2430 would maintain the current amount that districts can save in their contingency reserve fund at 10 percent. If this measure does not pass, the amount districts could save would go back down to 6 percent next year.

Braun said if this bill goes through, it would impact teacher salary negotiations.

Senators say that the option to set aside dollars for future operating expenses will help local schools plan for fluctuations in the economy without putting classroom resources, teachers and other essential services at risk.

"I believe that we need to have confidence in our local school boards because we always believed in local control," Schodorf said.

She said it allows school districts to save money, but acknowledged the legislation was somewhat controversial because some people believe that districts don't need a contingency fund and should spend all their money each year.

Right now, reserve funds for all school districts in the state total $1.7 billion. Those funds are restricted and can only be used for specific things, such as building improvements.

But the contingency fund is a type of savings account that can be used for anything.

At the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce's legislative update this past Saturday at Fort Scott Community College, there was a discrepancy between legislators and school board officials about what that reserve money can be used for, if it can be used at all.

Marshall said certain lawmakers say, "don't tell us you (school districts) have to fire teachers; take some money out of your reserves."

"They (school districts) say 'no, we need that money, we might need a new boiler' and there is a level of reserve they have to have because the state can be late on payroll payments," Marshall said. "But there are school districts in the state that have more money in the silos than they really need. There are school districts that are hoarding money.

"No we're not saying Fort Scott. They may be as close to where they should be as anybody, but you're always going to hear that from school districts 'oh we need that' or 'oh we've got to have that,'" Marshall said.

With Senate approval, the measure will go to the House where senators expect some changes.

"I think the House could agree with it, but they'll want their fingerprints on it, pride of authorship," Marshall said.

Schodorf is "cautiously hopeful" about what the House will do.

"We hope we can persuade our House friends to pass it as well," she said. "I know there are a lot of supporters of public education. They know the future rests upon our educational system. If we want to bring jobs and growth back to Kansas, we have to keep our system strong and (we) want to keep our young people in Kansas. This is a small step in reaching that goal."