Yesterday the Legislature closed session and settled on keeping the base state aid at $4012 for the 2010-2011 school year. This is both good and bad news for schools. The entire balancing act is based on an 1 cent sales increase in sales tax.  I do not want to be Dave downer. However, what happens if people are not buying. With no excess  discretionary money (unemployment up, pay cuts, no raises, etc)  money from taxes is not necessarily the answer. I am hopeful, but I have to believe Districts are still going to have to cut.  They are still going to have the conversations about what happens next. I have felt for a long time we are in the middle of the Hurricane.  The calm before the Storm. We need to be prepared….. Stay tuned.

The House released the proposal for state funding for next year.  The effect would be the following:

2010-11 Estimated computed general fund budget at BSAPP of $4,005
with the following adjustments in weightings.

• Eliminates high enrollment weighting
• Reduces low enrollment weighting
• Reduces vocational weighting from .5 to .4825
• Reduces bilingual weighting from .395 to .3812
• Reduces medium at-risk weighting from .06 to .0579
• Reduces high-density at-risk weighting from .10 to .0965
• Reduces at-risk weighting from .456 to .44

This  just got me to thinking. At ESSDACK our funding is different in many ways. For example we do not have Restricted use money or the spend or lose clause.  What would be the effect if the Legislature gave schools money without the limiting a carry-over.  If this had been in place would school boards been more frugal in preparation for the downfall in the economy. What I mean is we saw it coming.  It did not happen overnight. Would the Union’s have forced Schools to spend the excess on teacher salaries?  Could a school bank, and emergency fund of one year’s worth of salaries and expense. I am curious, if the financing of schools was more business like would we have been better prepared? I anticipate another 2-3 yrs until full recovery.  I know we will see a lot of change in that time.  I certainly do not have the answers but this whole topic does give you something to ponder. When things do turn around, can we not let the crisis pass without finding ways to prevent our schools from going through this again in the future.