Schools wary of ed funding changes

By Rod Haxton, editor

When school funding becomes a topic of discussion among Kansas legislators and within political campaigns, school officials take notice.
The news usually isn’t good.
The discussion usually evolves around reductions in state aid, which means increasing the local property tax burden or cutting budgets.
“The proposals we’re seeing being discussed would push more of the tax load onto the local level,” says Dr. Don Wells, superintendent of Scott County schools.
Rep. Don Hineman (R-Dighton) recently attended a school finance meeting in Topeka out of concern for the impact it would have on Western Kansas districts.
House Speaker Pro Tem Arlen Siegfreid (R-Olathe) has unveiled a tentative proposal that is being supported by other Republicans - primarily in the wealthy districts of Johnson County and the surrounding area - that would allow schools to increase their local option budget authority.
Rep. Siegfreid’s proposal comes at the same time Republican gubernatorial candidate Sam Brownback is calling for changes in the school finance plan.
“Rep. Siegfreid is doing what I fear more legislators would like to see and that’s to eliminate the cap on the LOB and put more funding responsibility on the local districts,” says Rep. Hineman. “This will allow the wealthy (districts) to do more, but it won’t help rural districts in my part of the state.
“Bottom line is that we’re talking about less state money for rural schools. And the only way for those districts to compensate is to increase their LOB through higher property taxes.
“That’s not a concept I can support,” Rep. Hineman added. “We will never be able to compete with urban schools.”
Rep. Siegfreid says the plan will focus on “localizing” the current funding formula.
“That’s another way of asking us to pay more,” says Supt. Wells.
One proposal being floated by Rep. Siegfreid would allow districts to increase their LOB authority by five percent to compensate for lost state funding.
If the Scott County district were to increase its LOB the five percent limit being considered, it would increase property tax revenue by $304,983 within the district - or about 3.95 mills.
The increase for the Healy school district would be 7.42 mills; the Dighton district would see a 2.94 increase in their mill levy; and it would climb 4.31 mills in the Wichita County district.
“We’re getting back to the old funding formula that the courts ruled was unconstitutional,” says Wells.
“The wealthy districts will have the luxury of levying whatever they want for their schools while the poorer districts will have to do with less. The whole concept behind the funding equalization formula was to give all students across the state the same opportunity at a quality education. Money is being distributed according to need,” says Dr. Wells. “We’re seeing a push in Topeka to get away from that.”
Republican gubernatorial candidate Sam Brownback, the front-runner to step into the governor’s office, didn’t do anything to ease he fears of local officials during his campaign stop in Scott City earlier this week.
Brownback has pledged to freeze state spending if he wins the election, which will likely mean higher property taxes at all levels to compensate for lost state funding. He has pledged to look at the school finance formula and demand that more money gets into the classroom.
He claims that school districts are putting up new buildings while laying off teachers.
While Brownback says his administration will look at changing the school finance formula, he stops short of saying what changes he is considering.
Which only raises more concerns from Western Kansas administrators and legislators who feel that the Siegfreid proposal will get traction in a Brownback Administration and that will mean less money going to education in rural districts - unless local property owners agree to a sharp increase in their taxes.
“The equalization concept we have is fine. It may need to be tweaked, but it serves the primary purpose of distributing money where there is the greatest need,” says Dr. Wells.
“It takes a lot of money to run a school district, but I feel we spend it wisely and where it will do the most good for the most kids,” he adds. “The reason we’re here is for the kids.”
Rep. Hineman worries that Western Kansas will lose with a major revision in the school finance formula.
“Most everything on the table right now will result in higher property taxes,” says Rep. Hineman. “That’s not a major issue in the wealthy districts like Johnson County, but it’s a big issue with the people of Western Kansas and in my district. There’s a limit to what they can be taxed.”