BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is recommending to state lawmakers a $3.5 billion school financing plan for next year that local school leaders say will leave them struggling to survive.
The 2014-15 funding formula was backed in a 7-2 vote Thursday over opposition of local superintendents and school boards. Those opponents said the formula shortchanges them of the money they need to educate students, meet escalating retirement costs and cope with new education standards.
“I’ve cut every place we could cut. I have no other place to go,” said West Feliciana Parish Superintendent Hollis Milton, pleading for additional money. “We need some help, and I need you guys to stand up for us.”
BESE members said they sympathized with the financial stress of local school districts.
But they also cited the state’s continuing budget troubles and questioned whether lawmakers would agree to more increases than the new dollars proposed by Gov. Bobby Jindal and Superintendent of Education John White.
“You know the Legislature’s position is going to be, ’We don’t have any money,’” said BESE member Walter Lee, a retired school superintendent.
Board members Lottie Beebe, superintendent of St. Martin Parish schools, and Carolyn Hill opposed the formula as not providing enough money. The board included language saying it would support additional dollars for schools if lawmakers can find a funding source.
“I know I will be going to the Legislature trying to help them identify more money,” said board member Jim Garvey.
White said the formula for the operations of Louisiana’s 69 public school districts included more than $125 million in increases, and he noted the governor’s budget proposal already is about $15 million short of covering that.
But of the increases highlighted by White, most would simply roll into the permanent formula a $69 million increase that lawmakers gave to school districts this year. Another slice of the increase is tied to increased student enrollment.
About $15 million of the increase would provide new dollars for programs, to pay for career and technical courses for students and for special education needs.
Superintendents and school boards wanted an additional, inflationary increase, saying expected increases in retirement payments could cost them up to $140 million next year. They said the state’s shift to the tougher Common Core education standards requires them to add computers for the testing and buy new instructional materials.
They also objected to adding state schools, like the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, into the formula. Adding a list of schools that have been funded outside the formula into the spending plan would take away $54 million that otherwise would pay for local school districts, said Michael Faulk, superintendent of the Central Community School System.
It took three votes before board members reached an agreement that passed a formula. Objections to the spending plans now shift to the Legislature.
Lawmakers can only approve or reject the formula submitted each year by BESE. They cannot change it. If the board and the Legislature can’t agree, the current formula stays in place.
Rep. Kevin Pearson, R-Slidell, told BESE members that its proposal fell short of what was needed for schools. “I really don’t feel comfortable with what I see coming out of this,” he said.
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