April 10, 2014
School Per Pupil Funding Decision for FY 2016 Still in Limbo
Education
Budget Work in Progress
The Senate approved SF
2347, the line-item budget spending a total of $986.1 million for FY 2015
Education Appropriations, on April 1.
The total is $87.2 million above FY 2014 and $111,830 above the Governor’s
Recommendation. The House Education
Appropriations Subcommittee met this morning and approved an amendment on
party-line vote, republicans in favor and democrats opposed and the House
Appropriations Committee approved the amendment and moved the bill forward to
the House Floor, also on a party-line vote.
The following are differences compared to the Senate version as reported
in the March 28 and April 4 weekly updates:
· Iowa Core
Funding: Also noteworthy in this
budget is the elimination of the line item appropriation for DE support of the
Iowa Core. Historically, support of the
Core was a distinct appropriation of $1.0 million. The bill eliminates the distinct
appropriation and increases the DE general administration line-item by $1.0
million. The Senate bill specifies “from
the moneys appropriated in this subsection, $1,000,000 shall be used for
purposes of implementing the content and assessment standards adopted pursuant
to section 256.7, subsections 26 and 28,” which is the cross reference for the
core. The House amendment strikes the specific requirement for DE to support
the Core.
·
Reading Research Center and
Screening Tools: In FY 2014, the Center was funded at
$1,331,000. The DE originally requested
$2.0 million in funding for the Center, which would be an increase of $669,000.
The DE also requested $1.9 million for the FAST screening assessment. The Governor’s recommendation was $3,931,000
to include funding to scale up provision of free assessment tools for screening
of reading in early elementary (FAST assessments) under the Reading Research
Center. For those districts planning on
training teachers this summer and implementing the FAST screening assessments
this fall, this difference in appropriation is significant and worthy of
contacting your legislators. Without the appropriation, the Rules on to
implement Chapter 62,
“State Standards for Progression in Reading,” which became effective March 26,
2014, still require school districts to use a screening tool which meets
department adopted minimum standards.
Without the state provision of the tools, school districts will have to
purchase individually. The House amendment adds funds, which
combined with the $1.0 million in the DE administrative line item that would
have supported the Core implementation, and instead includes language that
directs the DE to provide the screening tools for early elementary reading at
no charge to school districts.
·
The House
amendment also strikes the language and appropriation for anti-bullying
efforts.
·
The House amendment also lowers the
Senate’s increased appropriation to the University of Iowa by $4 million. The bill as amended would come in at $2.0
million below the joint budget target for the education budget. Rep. Dolecheck, subcommittee chair, explained
his intent to redirect that $2.0 million to the AEAs, by reducing their budget
cut from $15 million to $13 million in the standings appropriations bill, HSB
688.
See the
complete list of line item appropriations impacting PK-12 education in the
March 28 RSAI Legislative Update. The Legislative Services Agency has also
written an analysis of the bill, Notes on Bills and Amendments (NOBA) available
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/NOBA/85_SF2347_SF.pdf
Standings
Appropriations and One-time Debt Reduction & Savings Pending
The Standings Appropriations
bill is typically one of the last appropriations bills introduced and sent to
the Governor. HSB 688 was
introduced this week, a sure sign that the session is getting closer to
adjournment. It historically includes the state foundation
aid appropriation for the coming year (2014-15) based on the per pupil cost set
earlier by the legislature. It also historically includes policy language and
other appropriations of priority to a chamber or the Governor that didn’t make
it through the traditional process, although at this point, there is very
little policy language in the bill. It
does include the addition $2.0 million to the AEAs referenced in the education
budget discussion above. If any action
is to be taken on preschool flexibility or ELL weightings or length of
eligibility, expect some language in the Standings Appropriations bill as
amendments progress through the chambers. We will keep you posted.
The one-time Debt Reduction
and Savings bill has been used in recent years to find savings and redirect
them to one-time expenditures in keeping with the republican budget
principles: no ongoing expenses
associated with one-time revenues. It
would be possible in this bill to advance the participation of school districts
with quality TLC rubric scores in their applications for TLC grants to begin
participation July 1, 2014. Since $50
million is already included in the FY 2016 budget, this is a one-time
expenditure. An issue brief describing
the issue and fiscal impact is posted on the UEN web site here.
Other Bill Action
SF
2351 Preschool Expansion Incentives approved by Senate
Appropriations Committee on April 9.
This bill provides a 20% additional weighting applied to growth in
statewide voluntary preschool program enrollment. The expenditure of funds is provided flexibility
to grow PK access with a goal of eliminating waiting lists. The bill includes
flexibility language for SVPP dollars with specific mention of transportation
proration, outreach activities and rent within the category of administrative
expenditures and allows up to 10% administrative costs for both districts and
community partners. The bill now moves
to the Senate Calendar.
HF
2360 Transportation Levy Subcommittee met with Reps. Vander
Linden, Prichard, and Stanerson. The bill
allows school districts with transportation costs above the average to access a
levy approved by voters, funding with property tax or income surtax, for a
period of up to 10 years. The bill
allows the funds to pay for fuel, repairs and bus maintenance. Subcommittee
members asked about the next school finance interim study committee and
possibility of discussing transportation inequities during that
conversation. At the conclusion of the
subcommittee, the legislators did not indicate their willingness to move the
bill forward or what next steps might be.
The bill may just stay in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Broadband
Internet Expansion Incentives SF
2324 in Senate Appropriations today and HF
2329 in House Ways and Means, with slight differences in the
bills (eg., Senate no longer includes access to ICN for providers but House
still has it.)
SF
366 Radon Testing and Mitigation Reporting, Senate concurred
with House amendment which eliminated the testing and mitigation mandates. The bill requires the DE to provide information
to schools regarding the risks of radon, including information on radon testing
and mitigation, relevant statistical data, sources of funding for testing and
mitigation, and encouragement to schools to implement a radon testing and
mitigation plan. The DE is also required
to survey schools on the status of radon testing and mitigation plans by Dec.
1, 2014, and report to GA by Jan. 1, 2015.
There is no testing or mitigation mandate in the bill.
Governor’s Signature
·
SF 2319 Literacy, early
reading and services for students with dyslexia: The bill requires the Reading Research Center
to work with the DE and AEAs to provide no cost professional development to
early elementary teachers to improve skills of all students in reading,
conditional on an appropriation in the budget.
The bill requires districts provide assistance to students to include
but not be limited to strategies that formally address dyslexia, when
appropriate, and defines dyslexia as a specific and significant impairment in
the development of reading, including but not limited to phonemic awareness,
phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, that is not solely accounted
for by intellectual disability, sensory disability or impairment, or lack of
appropriate instruction. A fiscal note details the costs of the bill including training. The Governor signed the bill on April 9.
Advocacy
Plan: Continue contacts from grassroots
networks, staff and school leaders.
Request that the Legislature set the state cost per pupil for FY 2016
before adjourning this Session. This
discussion isn’t over until they adjourn.
Send email and make phone calls striving for three contacts per
advocate (more if your district is represented by several legislators). Use a pyramid model where each advocate encourages
another to also contact their legislators and the Governor. Engage your grassroots and parent
groups. Link the call to action on your
personal and district Facebook page. The Mar. 13 RSAI Call to Action includes a
sample letter from parent to legislator/Governor to get started. School Funding Decision Needed Now
(w/parent letter) found on the RSAI web page: http://ruralstudentadvocates.blogspot.com/2014/03/rsai-call-to-action-set-per-pupil-costs.html
Contact information:
Call or email Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds and your legislators
and leave a message: schools need
sufficient school funding, at least 6% per pupil for the 2015-16 school year,
determined this session.
·
Office of the Governor: State Capitol | 1007
East Grand Ave. | Des Moines, Iowa 50319, Phone: 515.281.5211 | Contact Us
(https://Governor.iowa.gov/contact/)
·
To reach members of the Iowa House and Senate:
o
Email your legislators. The correct email
address configuration is: firstname.lastname@legis.iowa.gov and can be verified
at the above link.
o
Call the Switchboard. Leave a message for your
representative at 515.281.3221 or for your senator at 515.281.3371
Write a letter to your local newspaper explaining the impact of a
delayed decision on your district or share details from one of the education
coalition funding facts of the week. If
your district is eliminating positions or programs, please let the media know
and share the funding fact linked below.
Education Coalition Joint
Advocacy: Thanks to ISEA, IASB, SAI, Iowa AEAs
and the UEN for working together in this collaborative effort! A new Point/Counter Point document is
available to help advocates communicate effectively with legislators opposed to
action this year. Look for notice in this week’s funding fact of the week email
on Monday.
Funding fact of the week: This weekly funding fact is designed to
help local advocates generate conversations and fuel the enthusiasm for setting
the state percent of growth for FY 2015-16 during the 2014 Session. The first
issue detailed Iowa’s 37th in the nation ranking in total per pupil
expenditures. Previous issues may be
found here and a direct link to
the current issue is found here:
Sign
up to receive the Education Funding fact of the week here: http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/home/?u=e0acb6236d9a5dbd136a38ef4&id=815d3aa83c
No comments:
Post a Comment