| School Funding |
Parents, schools ponder effects of school ed package Like others across the state, parents in Pittsburg not only keep up with how well their children are doing in school but also volunteer to help teachers and raise money for extras. In Pittsburg, where parents dig deep to buy classrooms supplies so teachers don't have to, Rachel Patterson was paying attention as legislators debated how to allocate hundreds of millions of new dollars for public schools. But her concerns about education are focused on her 10-year-old fourth-grader, Jack. "I'm more worried more about the level of my child's reading than the government's level of spending," she said. Legislators approved a three-year, $541 million school finance package, aimed at satisfying a Kansas Supreme Court mandate to increase school spending. Coupled with last year's $290 million investment, the state will spend more than $3.25 billion during the next school year on K-12 education. Pittsburg has about 2,500 students and will get $450 per student more next year, largely through aid for districts with high concentrations of students at risk of failing. The district will get an additional $830,000 in at-risk funding, a high priority for the court and lawmakers. But some Kansas superintendents aren't sure the court will sign off on the spending package. Legislators didn't follow the recommendations laid out by a legislative cost study in January, or a cost study from 2002. Both suggested the state needed to boost spending by $400 million to $583 million a year to meet a constitutional mandate for education quality. Mike Kastle, superintendent of Leroy-Gridley in eastern Kansas, figures his district will get about $80,000 in the first year of the plan. Most of that money is targeted for special education, programs for at-risk students and boosting teacher pay and health insurance. "I think it is questionable as to whether the Supreme Court will OK the plan," said Kastle. "On the other hand, they appear to have made a good-faith effort to support education in the state. Hopefully the Legislature will honor those commitments in future years." Bob Hightree, superintendent in the South Barber County district, said the Legislature shouldn't get credit for partially meeting court demands. "I haven't seen many criminals who were found not guilty when they only partially complied with the law," he said. Most districts are likely to spend the bulk of the new money not devoted to specific programs into salaries and benefits. Many of them will also spend more on fuel and utilities, whose costs are soaring. Piper superintendent John Chapman said higher teacher salaries elsewhere will put districts such as his at a competitive disadvantage. Piper, in western Wyandotte County, gets $176 more per student next year, compared with $673 per student in Kansas City and $242 per student in Olathe in Johnson County. Smaller increases are scheduled in years two and three of the plan, but Chapman doesn't see the promises as an advantage. Legislators are relying on existing revenues to finance the new spending - and some budget projections showed a big budget shortfall emerging in the third year. "Only a fool would believe that it will actually happen as advertised," Chapman said. Last summer, parents like Susan Baden, the mother of four Pittsburg students, feared wrangling between lawmakers and the courts would have dire consequences. "We were worried that they were going to cancel schools," she said. In June 2005, after rejecting one plan from legislators, the Supreme Court issued an order, demanding the state show why schools shouldn't be closed for the start of the 2006-07 year. Legislators then boosted spending by $290 million for the current year, keeping schools open. But the Supreme Court deemed last year's package "an interim step," saying more money was needed. Parent-teacher groups in Pittsburg raise funds for their schools, and some of the money pays for tutoring students. Other money helps teachers buy supplies. Joan Fields, a mother of two children at Westside Elementary in Pittsburg, would like to see the new state money go to teacher salaries. "Some of them can't afford to be a teacher," said Fields, co-president of Westside's PTO. "If we are going to have teachers who care about the children, we need to pay them." But Independence Superintendent Chuck Schmidt wants the money spread around. "I hope that teachers do not try to get all the increased funding put into salary increases," he said. "Reducing class sizes and providing aides helps teachers, and reducing the number of dropouts with alternative school helps everyone." On the Net: Kansas Legislature: http://www.kslegislature.org Kansas Department of Education: http://www.ksbe.state.ks.us Pittsburg schools: http://www.usd250.org
|
USD
250 Home Page |