Superintended Summer Stephens informed the Board of Trustees at their last meeting, that the Commission on School Funding will be meeting soon to look at how to set up funding for the upcoming year, what the weighted formula will look like, and how “at-risk” will be defined. She asked for input from the trustees regarding any thoughts or concerns they might have so that she can share them with the commission.
Stephens took the opportunity to share with the Board some ideas about “optimal funding” and what would be required so that every student is college and career ready. At this point, funding will need to be restored to adequate first, and then the state can look at how to get to optimal. With the pandemic, loss of economy, and drops in enrollment, districts are concerned about how the new biennium will look in terms of revenue streams along with maintaining the capability to fund the current Hold Harmless numbers.
According to email correspondence with Christi Fielding, the Churchill County School District comptroller, the Hold Harmless Provision in Senate Bill 543 indicates that if a school district experiences a decrease in funding due to a decline in enrollment, the legislature will determine how to mitigate the impact; it does not provide further specifics. Currently, if a district experiences more than a 5% decrease in enrollment, the next quarter’s enrollment will be based on the prior year’s enrollment (Hold Harmless) for that quarter, and there is no end of quarter true up to actual. The end of quarter actual will then be compared again to see if there was more than a 5% decline, and if there is again, the following quarter will again be placed in Hold Harmless status.
Dr. Stephens said the concern is how will the state protect education at this time, referring to the upcoming legislative session. She is willing to go to the table and say that education must be first, but she is asked for ideas from the Board that reflect their goals.
Trustee Buckmaster stated that he would like to see the Legislature push back the new funding model and that he does not support, in any way shape or form, that the counties that receive the mining tax money that goes towards education should not be put into general funding and shared with all other districts. The counties with the mines are impacted by those mines and that money should stay in those counties and not distributed out to other counties.
Trustee Whitaker asked if the idea was to say that education is important and should not be touched, and we need to go back to where we were; and yet, when you look at the whole picture of where the state is, that is very difficult to do. She is not opposed to going with the new funding model, but there must be the Hold Harmless for all districts.
Trustee Strasdin asked how other districts are addressing this issue.
Dr. Stephens said that there is support to continue pushing for optimal funding and for the Legislature to work to find the necessary revenue streams to make that happen. The impact that everyone has felt due to the drops in enrollment has made the Hold Harmless one of the top priorities. The state must fund the fiscal year 2020 amount.
Trustee Strasdin acknowledged that this has been a tough year for everyone, and funds will be difficult, but she was in support of stressing the importance of the Hold Harmless.
Trustee Pinder agreed with comments from his fellow trustees; and yet, he wants to know what the cold hard reality truly is, what is this legislature really going to do, and what can be done. Education is the most important issue out there.
Trustee Schank commented on the number of “don’t know” that we are faced with right now, but that the Hold Harmless was definitely important. She also wanted to support what Trustee Buckmaster has said about the mines and revenue.
Trustee Strasdin added that she does want to push for the best, but that it is important to be realistic about where things are and what can be worked out.
Trustee Hyde said he was certainly thankful for the mines and for the casinos and the revenue that Churchill County receives from both of those industries. Those funds are dispersed through education to us. He agreed that the Legislature is in a really tough spot and that optimal funding is way down the road, but that it is important to hold on to Hold Harmless. He is not afraid of going with the new model, but if we need to hold off until all the kinks are worked out, he’d just as soon as hold off. He also expressed a concern that as we look at funding across the state as a whole, and we cut money here in this district, who is going to lose a job, and when families get hurt, our students get hurt. Hyde stated we need to hang on to what we have and try to survive this. He added that we are one state, and we will get through this together.
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