Action Line for April 2, 2010
Volume XXXIII, Number 11
Post Session Wrap-Up
The Legislature adjourned on Tuesday, March 30. It was the earliest adjournment in years and one of the few during the light of day. All in all, education fared fairly well compared to most other entities. State revenues are still poor - there is a light at the end of the tunnel, albeit a fairly long tunnel.
This issue of the Action Line will focus on the work of the final week, which was mainly focused on budget issues. A full Legislative Summary will be completed as soon as the 30 days have passed in which the governor must sign, veto or item veto bills.
HF 2531 - Standing Appropriations
FY 2011 Allowable Growth is 2 percent. A combination of state appropriations, federal stimulus funds and local spending authority funds the 2 percent. The FY 2011 amount is unfunded by approximately $162.1 million. Specifically, the state school aid appropriation was capped at $2.499 billion and includes $47.9 million for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Education Stimulus, and an Underground Storage Tank fund of $5.1 million to be used in lieu of General Fund dollars. The FY 2011 Standings Bill estimates $2.298 billion for regular school aid, $48.2 Preschool Aid, and $314.9 million in state categorical supplement funding, totaling $2.661 billion. This results in approximately $162.1 million in unfunded state school aid funding, or approximately $290 per student weighted enrollment. Click here for the summary spreadsheets: http://www.ia-sb.org/Finance.aspx.
The AEAs would have been short $7.9 million due to the underfunding of state aid. Their final shortfall is only $2.5 million, as an additional $5.1 million was added into the overall state aid figure to reduce the impact on the AEAs due to their inability to fall back on property taxes to make up the shortfall.
The Legislature adopted an amendment to the standing appropriations bill that would allocate any future federal stimulus funds to state aid for K-12 schools. This money would be used to make up the state shortfall, not replace already allocated state aid. Thus, if a federal stimulus package with education funds is approved, districts would receive a proportionate amount of additional state aid toward the 2 percent allowable growth rate.
The funding for the Teacher Salary Supplement (TSS), Professional Development and Early Intervention programs cannot be cut in order to make up any budget shortfall. This is consistent with the law passed in SF 2376 that would exempt these three funds from future across-the-board cuts.
Instructional Support Levy
The Legislature provided $7.5 million toward the state’s share of the instructional support levy aid. This is below last year’s allocation ($13.1 million, which was funded with one-time federal stimulus dollars). In addition, the policy language in the bill allows for up to an additional $5,609,950 to be allocated if federal stimulus dollars are received.
Open Meetings/Public Records
A last-minute attempt to create a new state agency to oversee compliance and implementation of open meetings and public records requirements for all public bodies failed. Language was adopted by the Senate as part of
HF 2531 but was later struck by the House and remains out of the bill. IASB opposed the creation of the new agency and instead supported the original language in HF 777 that addressed many of the concerns with the law.
Data Collection/Statewide Penny
A provision to HF 2531, the standings bill, added by the House will require districts to submit general information about the allocation of statewide sales tax dollars between property tax relief and infrastructure.
Coming Soon!
Don’t miss the chance to ask questions and get more detailed updates about the legislative session at IASB’s Safety Group Meetings and the School Law Conference. Learn more and register at http://www.ia-sb.org/Training-Resources.aspx.
IASB Government Relations Team
Mary Gannon, mgannon@ia-sb.org
Emily Piper, emily@ialobbyresources.com
Marte Brightman, mbrightman@ia-sb.org