TALK | state
FORMULA from page 7
student who is deaf receives a 170-percent weight at Tier 3, while a student with a developmental delay receives a 60-percent weight at Tier 1. Students in districts with fewer than four students per square mile receive more funds as a “sparse” district. Average Daily Membership: The shift
Accountability, Transparency: House Bill 957 directs
Rep. Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach, was not amenable to any of the 17 amendments Democrats proposed to the new formula.
January 24 - 30, 2018 • jfp.ms
the Mississippi Department of Education to study how much money a school district must provide for education funding. MDE must edit its accounting manual so school districts report data-based on the new weights in the UPS formula. The department must develop a fiscal transparency system that is public and enables districts to compare funds and use of funds to other peer districts. MDE is also directed to create a financial rating model that rates the financial health of districts.
8
Stephen Wilson
to average daily membership, which counts student enrollment several times a year, is a change that many lawmakers wanted to make to MAEP. School districts advocated for this change in MAEP long before EdBuild came to town because counting enrollment would give a more accurate picture of how many students are in a district, instead of counting attendance on a specific day of each year. The UPS formula involves the state auditor to ensure that districts are reporting accurate numbers, and if districts report numbers wildly different than the auditor finds, they will be funded based on the auditor’s count, not their own.
diem for travel expenses and meetings. His amendment to remove the language lost. The UPS bill also creates a special-education committee to evaluate whether the weights set in the new formula are correct. The State Board of Education must create the committee, which in turn, must prepare a report by December 2018 for the legislative education and appropriations committees. The state superintendent is supposed to create an early-learning continuum study committee to look at expanding pre-kindergarten statewide and possibly funding it through the new formula. That committee is also required to submit a report before December 2018.
Committees: House Bill 957 creates three committees. The first committee is made entirely of lawmakers to evaluate the state accreditation standards and consider cutting certain regulations for the state’s highest-performing districts and highest academic growth districts. MDE is required to submit a report to this committee about the accreditation standards, particularly in regards to studentteacher ratios and teacher salaries. Rep. Clark objected to a part of the bill that allows lawmakers to collect a per
Implementation: The UPS formula is scheduled to phase in over the next seven fiscal years. The State Board of Education and the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board must evaluate the formula before 2021. The legislation includes two years of a “hold harmless” period for school districts that are going to lose funding under the new proposal. Thirty-five districts will receive fewer funds than they are this year from MAEP when the UPS formula is fully funded in approximated amounts ranging from $8,000 for Philadelphia schools to more than $2 million for Moss Point schools. Chairman Bennett repeatedly stressed that the bill will not go into effect for two years, giving lawmakers time to address several concerns from the low-income poverty rate measure to the 27 Percent Rule. When challenged on things that could use fixing, he said, “that’s why it’s not going into effect for two years.” He asked the House to pass a “clean” bill, rejecting all 17 of the Democratic amendments.
HB 957 does not address the rest of the state’s 143 school districts that could eventually gain funds in the new proposal, implying that districts slotted to receive more could begin receiving more as early as this July—depending on how much the Legislature chooses to appropriate. School districts that lose students will continue to lose funds, however, as they do currently under MAEP. If and when fully funded, UPS will provide nearly $200 million less to schools than MAEP would fully funded. What Is Left Out of HB 957: Speaker
Gunn left out two key components of EdBuild’s recommendations, which Democrats argued on the House floor last week make the new proposed formula inequitable. EdBuild recommended that the state eliminate a rule, written into MAEP, that requires districts to only contribute 27 percent of the total cost to fund their schools. This rule is inequitable because the required minimum amount of millage per school district, 28 mills, produces a drastically different number depending on a school district’s property values. Property-wealthy school districts get to keep the rest of the 28-mill levy, despite being able to pay way more into their total school funding than other districts. Pascagoula School District benefits the most from this rule, keeping more than $17 million in funds in fiscal-year 2017, data from EdBuild’s recommendations show. The rule hurts property-poor school districts throughout the state while essentially giving a tax break to school districts and communities that can afford to foot more of the bill to fund their schools than they are. House Minority Whip David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, introduced an amendment to phase out the rule. “If we don’t do something on the 27 percent rule now, how likely is it that we will come back and ever do anything?” he said. “… Folks this is your chance to do equity right here.” Chairman Bennett pointed out earlier in debate that at full implementation, UPS will be a $164-million increase for low-income children in the state. Democrats felt that the bill lacked eq-
Most viral stories at jfp.ms:
1. “Percy King of the Jackson Zoo Killed in Double Homicide” by JFP Staff 2. “Reps. John Lewis, Bennie Thompson to Attend Grand Celebration of Mississippi Civil Rights Museum” by Donna Ladd 3. “Hinds County Sheriff Victor Mason to Employees: ‘Get Out of My Way’” by Ko Bragg 4. “Percy King” by Ronni Mott 5. “Rosie L.T.P. Johnson ‘Loved All Things Jackson’” by Ko Bragg
uity in other ways, however. “The most important thing about any funding formula in Mississippi is the equity,” Rep. Clark said on the floor. “… The reason that we have MAEP is not because this body was jumping up and down to fund education. It was the threat of a lawsuit and that formula had to have equity.” Eliminating the rule would generate nearly $120 million in state revenue that could be rolled into a new formula, the EdBuild recommendations show. The “27 Percent Rule” stayed in HB 957, however, and Gunn committed to looking at the measure during the two-year study period but said he believed eliminating the rule might lead to districts having to raise taxes. Rep. Jarvis Dortch, D-Jackson, asked how not eliminating the 27 Percent Rule was equitable. “One of the things (EdBuild) pointed out was that a district like Madison County was being subsidized by the state, to the tune of $13 million, that we were providing them with too much money and now with this plan, we’re going to provide them with an additional $1 million in state funding—is that not buying us a federal lawsuit?” Dortch asked. Bennett said anyone can file a lawsuit but that taking away the “27 Percent Rule” would hurt several districts. “I think it’s (too) drastic of a cut to penalize a community that have worked to build the economy in their town, and now all of a sudden we’re going to penalize them,” he said. “I do think it needs to be looked at ....” EdBuild also suggests allowing districts to raise their millage cap of 55 mills, which is currently written into state law. The cap, EdBuild noted in their recommendations, “is one important mechanism for ensuring equity in a state formula, because it prevents the tax burden in districts from rising too much in relation to other districts’ tax rates,” it can also mean in years with cuts to education funding from the state, a district could “be left with no choice but to cut important programs or positions.” The new formula proposal is now in the Senate and has not been referred to a committee for consideration by press time. Email arielle@jacksonfreepress.com.
Most viral events at jfpevents.com:
1. “Shopkins Live! Shop It Up!” Jan. 24 2. Kombucha 101: Brewing, Flavoring, Bottling,” Jan. 24 3. “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” screening, Jan. 25 4. 2018 Mississippi Blues Marathon, Jan. 27 5. Best of Jackson, Jan. 28 Find more events at jfpevents.com.