Funding bill would add money to school districts

The Cape Girardeau School District no longer would be hold-harmless and all Southeast Missouri districts would receive an increase in funding under a new funding formula currently being considered by the state legislature.

While many changes are still likely to take place before the final version of the formula is passed, local educators say the plan looks beneficial so far.

"I hesitate to get too excited until they finish up, but we do appreciate their efforts in terms of getting it changed," said Jim Welker, assistant superintendent of finance in the Jackson School District. "It appears that it would increase our state aid under the scenario presented, but I think there are a lot of things they still have to work out."

A simulation of the money districts would receive under the new formula was released by the state Senate's education committee in March. In that simulation, Cape Girardeau schools would received $2.57 million more in state funding than the district will receive in 2005. Jackson schools stand to gain $5.88 under that plan.

However, administrators in those districts say those figures are misleading since they include "categorical" money that districts received outside the old formula. Those categoricals, including funds for at-risk, gifted, special education and remedial reading programs, will be folded into the new formula.

While Cape Girardeau may see an overall gain in formula money of $2.57 million, Bowles said $1.7 million of that is money the district already received from the categoricals, making the actual gain around $800,000.

The same is true in Jackson, Scott City and all other districts.

Diann Bradshaw Ulmer, superintendent in Scott City, said it's too early for her to tell exactly what impact the new formula might have on her district.

"There's been so much floating around," she said. "I've heard the base per-pupil amount will be around $6,100. That's got to be better because we spent between $5,300 and $5,400 per student last year."

The additional funding shown in the formula simulation would not be realized in the first or likely second, third or fourth years after the new system is implemented. Legislators are currently discussing a combination of the old and new formula for the first five to seven years.

For example, 25 percent of state aid would be based on the new formula and 75 percent of state aid based on the old formula during the first year. In the second year, the combination might be 50-50.

Under the current proposal, the Cape Girardeau School District would no longer be considered hold-harmless -- a status officials there have bemoaned for several years.

Hold-harmless schools are those that have state funds essentially frozen at 1993 levels due to a high local property tax base.

"It will be great not be hold-harmless, but we're still concerned about the numbers because they continue to narrow and change the factors for categories of students," said Cape Girardeau superintendent Mark Bowles. "The price tag is still a significant amount of money for which a revenue source has not been identified.

"I like that it's student-needs based, that it recognizes the differences in different parts of the state for cost of living," Bowles said.

cmiller@semissourian.com

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