Panel rejects rise in schools’ funds
Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008
After debate that at times turned rancorous, a key legislative subcommittee Monday rejected a move by one of its co-chairmen that could have led to the state spending $ 35 million more on school transportation.
The Joint Adequacy Oversight Subcommittee will meet again today to further discuss how to define, and provide, an “adequate” education as required by the state Supreme Court in preparation for the 2009 legislative session.
Rep. Bill Abernathy, D-Mena, co-chairman of the subcommittee, announced during the meeting that he thought the subcommittee should recommend that the state send more money to districts with higher transportation costs.
“The big overriding issue in the state is transportation,” said Abernathy, a former Mena School District superintendent. “Some districts are grossly overfunded. Others [are underfunded ]. That [takes away ] from the resources they have for an adequate education.”
He estimated about twothirds of the state’s 245 districts need more money for school buses, bus drivers and other transportation costs than the $ 286 per student provided in the state and local foundation amount of $ 5, 719 per student.
Abernathy called for a “high cost” transportation funding category. But he proposed keep- ing intact the $ 286 per student for districts that don’t use that much for transportation and instead use some of it for other things. He explained that inflation would eventually mean all districts will soon be spending more than $ 286 per student for transportation.
“That Polk County math confuses me sometimes,” Sen. Jim Hill, D-Nashville, told Abernathy. “Do you really believe that ?”
Abernathy told him yes.
“How many years ?” Hill asked.
“I’d say four years,” Abernathy said.
Hill responded that if the funding “is inequitable” why would Abernathy allow the inequity to stand ?
Abernathy said that districts with low transportation costs have the $ 286 “built in” to their budgets so it would be unfair to take it away.
“Well, now, don’t grin at that,” Abernathy told Hill.
“Well, I grin at you a lot,” Hill replied.
Sen. Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, asked how much more money Abernathy’s proposal would cost.
Abernathy estimated about $ 35 million.
Argue responded that he had a few problems. He said the state shouldn’t increase transportation funding without cutting funds for the districts that get more than they need.
Also, Argue said another item in the funding formula, teacher health insurance, needs more attention.
He also warned against having the state reimburse districts for transportation costs. He said that wouldn’t give incentive to districts to spend money wisely if the state would be paying all the bills.
Abernathy stopped Argue and said details could come later but he wanted the subcommittee to decide that an additional funding category was needed.
Rep. Rick Saunders, D-Hot Springs, then offered a motion to pass Abernathy’s plan.
He said the $ 286 was a “good guess” but that the Legislature needed to come up with something more specific.
Sen. Shawn Womack, R- Mountain Home, responded that the Supreme Court didn’t mandate transportation funding.
“The [state general revenue ] budget is going to be down $ 107 million next year,” Womack said, referring to a budget reduction that already has been ordered. “We’re talking about $ 35 million. What other state services are we going to cut to add things that aren’t constitutionally mandated ? If we’re going to say, ‘We’re going to do this,’ it would be foolish to say that unless we’ve had the discussion about whether we can afford to do it and how does this fit into the big picture. We’re putting the cart before the horse.”
Saunders responded that it’s clear more money is needed for transportation.
Abernathy said he wanted a vote on Saunders’ motion.
Assistant attorney general Matt McCoy told the subcommittee that the Supreme Court didn’t specifically address transportation. But he said it could be argued that the Supreme Court would require more research by the state to show that the $ 286 was sufficient.
He said Saunders’ motion “looks flexible” enough so that it wouldn’t bind the Legislature to funding.
Womack asked Abernathy whether the governor’s office supported the motion.
Abernathy said he wasn’t aware of that.
Saunders’ motion then failed with seven in favor and one against. It needed nine favorable votes in the 16-member committee to pass.
Argue then offered a motion to study the issue in more detail before deciding whether to add more transportation funding.
That failed four votes in favor and five against.
Matt DeCample, spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, said later that Beebe opposed creating another category for transportation funding.
“That could take us to some dangerous territory as it relates to the [school ] funding formula and the state budget,” DeCample said.
But he said that the state must fund whatever is needed for an adequate education as the Legislature defines it.
“We fully recognize the hit our school districts are taking because of fuel prices,” DeCample said.
But he said the state must be able to distinguish between necessary “academic transportation” costs versus “extracurricular transportation” costs.
Late in the meeting, the subcommittee with little debate addressed whether to keep the same school staff ratios as required by the funding formula. That passed without each legislator’s vote being publicly stated.
The next issue was whether to increase school staff salaries by 2 percent, which would cost about $ 36 million a year.
That failed with five votes in favor, four short of passing. The “no” votes weren’t announced. Several legislators had left the room.
“I have a procedural question,” Rep. Mike Kenney, R-Siloam Springs, said. “Do we have a quorum ?”
“I don’t think so,” said the other co-chairman, Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, D-Crossett. “I’ll entertain one more question.”
“So we’re going to continue business without a quorum ?” Kenney asked.
“We’re not doing business right now,” Jeffress said. “We’re just answering questions.”
Abernathy then said he was frustrated that more questions weren’t asked in previous meetings.
Rep. Betty Pickett, D-Conway, said it “saddens me” that transportation and teacher health insurance still haven’t been ironed out despite them being talked about the last few years.
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