Financial Wins and Losses for Schools at State Capital (Talk of the District)

Talk of the District is written by Stillwater Area School District Superintendent Corey Lunn:

The end of the legislative session earlier this summer left our schools with many more questions than answers. We’ve spent the past several weeks learning about and evaluating the impact of changes in state law that affect our school district. During this time we have also been reflecting on how these changes may impact, and possibly alter, our levy proposal to the community.

The good news is that, for the first time in many years, our schools will receive a small increase in state funding. For our school district this 1.5 percent increase equals about $750,000 for each of the next two years. As I mentioned in my last column, the new education bill also provides funding for all day kindergarten and offers some help in addressing the funding gap that exists in the area of special education. The state will also pay back the money it has borrowed from schools earlier than expected as a result of an improving state budget forecast.

While these changes are welcome, they by no means address our ongoing funding challenges. Interestingly enough, this “new money” provided by the state barely covers inflation which financial analysts expect to rise 1.7 percent in 2014 and 1.6 percent in 2015 using the Implicit Price Deflator.

Countering the “wins” of the latest legislation are some “losses,” which negatively impact our budget. These include more unfunded mandates, such as a mandatory teacher evaluation system and requirements related to staff development. While both are important issues, with no new money to support the requirements we must take money from our budget to set aside for these specific uses. When considering these unfunded mandates, inflation, and rising student needs, the new money from this year’s legislature barely allow us to catch up from past years of frozen funding. It does very little in helping us provide additional resources for our students.

There are some other technical changes in law that will significantly impact our schools and our taxpayers. This includes the way in which students are calculated in funding formulas and the tools available to schools to increase local funding.

In the past, funding was based on the number of residential pupils within your district – which included all students residing within the district’s boundaries, even if they were homeschooled, attended a non-public school, or went to school in another district.  The new law uses actual student numbers – only those children that attend Stillwater Area Public Schools.  While this doesn’t impact the overall revenue our schools receive, I believe it may cause confusion for residents as we share budget information in the future. By reporting on actual pupils it may look like we receive more revenue when compared to past reporting under the old system.

The state has offered school boards new “tools” in the form of non-voter approved levies to help address the ongoing budget challenges facing public schools. These tools come with built in incentives, in the form of state aid, to lessen the tax impact of the levies on residents. One of these non-voter approved levies would provide up to $300 per student, and if enacted, would come with more than half a million dollars in state aid. The other levy would provide up to $424 per student.

So, what does this all mean as we work to finalize a levy proposal to place before voters this fall? The answer to that may very well lie in your perspective. The action of the legislature does not solve our funding needs, but it does mean that our levy request will be smaller than originally anticipated. It also means that we have the opportunity to take advantage of state aid, which would lessen the impact the levy would have on individual taxpayers. Non-voter approved operating levies have long been a source of contention, and yet, in this case they could significantly reduce the impact of a levy on individual residents – meaning we’d get the same resources for our students at a lower cost to our taxpayers.

In the coming weeks our school board members will continue to consider recent legislative action as they works to finalize a levy request for the November 5 ballot. Their ultimate goal is to ensure we provide our students with the resources they need in the most fiscally conservative manner possible.

I want to end by thanking all of our local legislators and representatives for their hard work this past session. Many positive steps have been made to begin addressing the deficits of the past. I look forward to this work continuing as we build on these stepping stones to ensure the long-term success of our children.

I hope you are having a wonderful and enjoyable summer.

-- Superintendent Corey Lunn can be contacted via email at lunnc@stillwater.k12.mn.us or by phone at 651-351-8301.