Sharing via NEIFPE. With $5,713 in per student tuition from the state, booming Zionsville Community Schools boasts straight-A ratings even after budget cuts eliminated some advanced-level high school classes and elementary gym teachers. For $6,544 per student from the state, Herron High School graduates nearly 95 percent of students but pleads for private donations to fix cracks in the floor, water leaks and peeling paint. Some 250 students on a wait list this year were hoping for a spot to open up at the charter school. And at $8,118 per student from the state, Indianapolis Public Schools passes barely half of its students on the ISTEP, while it puts extra dollars toward addressing hunger and homelessness its 82 percent of students coming from poverty. When it comes to funding for local schools, are these disparities fair? That is the question Indiana lawmakers will be wrestling with when the legislature convenes in January. Leading Republican lawmakers want to provide more equity in school funding by narrowing disparities between lower-funded suburban districts and higher-funded urban ones that receive additional money to meet the needs of low-income students. We have the unusual situation of funding schools that arent performing well at the highest levels, and those that are performing at the highest levels the least, House Speaker Brian Bosma said last month, later adding, The disparity in per-student funding appears to be flawed to me. Republican Gov. Mike Pence wants to hike funding for charter schools and increase the value of state-funded vouchers for students to use to pay for the private or religious school of their choice. But Democrats fear it will all come at the expense of urban school districts like IPS, which currently receives among the highest per-pupil state funding because of its high number of disadvantaged students. What Republicans plans could do is take money off of a school corporation with less means and put it back up into a school board with more means, said state Rep. Gregory Porter, D-Indianapolis. If they do what I think theyre trying to do, its like reverse Robin Hood. Republican lawmakers say, however, that all schools could see more money — and wont feel any losses — if the entire pot of education funding can be increased. That funding already amounts to more than $6 billion annually, a majority of state spending. Revenue projections due Dec. 18 will provide clues about whether signficant increases are possible, but some have doubts. Dealing with complexity At the heart of the debate is the part of Indianas school funding formula that gives more money to schools with higher numbers of low-income students — a recognition of the challenges that they face. But at the same time, the complicated formula in recent years past has been criticized for failing to help suburban schools keep up with explosive growth while cushioning urban districts from falling enrollments. Lawmakers have tried to fix that issue, but compounded with the recession, suburban districts like Zionsville say they have fallen too far behind in state dollars. Now, leading Republican lawmakers are zeroing in on whats known as the complexity index. Under the states current school funding formula, the complexity index calculates additional dollars based on a districts proportion of low-income students who qualify for textbook assistance — granting more for districts where thats the vast majority. At IPS, where more than four out of every five students come from low-income families, the complexity index alone adds $2,197.17 in state dollars per student. At Zionsville, where about 5 percent of students receive free or reduced meals, it amounts to just $123.39 more per student. Thats a difference of more than $2,000 per student, all because of families income levels. In IPS, those extra dollars — millions each year — support additional counselors and social workers, nurses and school police. The funding also goes toward an alternative education program that catches up middle school students who have fallen behind. It backs a program to provide instruction on a non-traditional schedule for working high school students, another program that caters to pregnant students and students with children, and one that helps high school seniors study to pass state-mandated graduation exams. We have a disproportionate amount of urban poverty, and urban poverty is different from suburban poverty, said IPS Superintendent Lewis Ferebee. There are a lot of comparisons being made now that arent necessarily fair. He added: We know we have needier students, and it requires more resources to educate those students. So I firmly believe we need more. On average, students from low-income families start school three grade levels behind their peers, said Ball State University educational leadership professor John Ellis — and often stay behind. Youre not comparing apples to apples, he said. Youre comparing apples to the continent of Australia. With impoverished students often receiving less enrichment from home as parents work several jobs around the clock, Ellis said, schools have to try to make up for lost time through additional programming. The wealth divide becomes apparent in standardized test scores, where richer suburban districts Carmel and Zionsville have consistently been among the top ISTEP performers in the state — and IPS has steadily scored among the worst. But in Zionsville, schools superintendent Scott Robison has been leading the charge for more state funding for suburban districts. Even if the community is wealthier, he said, the Zionsville school system itself is poor. Zionsville schools receive less than the statewide average amount of per-pupil funding. Its allocation has been decreasing, Robison said, while its enrollment has been increasing. Its a curious situation when districts do their part in paying into the funding formula and get such a meager return, Robison said. This design shortchanges students in our schools. Making tough cuts amid underfunding from the state, Zionsville leaders said they turned to local taxpayers in 2012 to provide more money in a townwide referendum. The tax increase helped skirt deeper teacher cuts. But those funds will stop in 2016, and Robison said he shouldnt have to ask again. Are we going to do serial re-taxation of our people, he said, or are we going to get a proper appropriation? Bosma said he is seeking to close the disparities and equalize funding but has offered no details yet on what specific changes could come. What is an acceptable disparity? he said. I cant give you a dollar figure or a percentage. But that gap in dollars devoted to low-income students has already been narrowing. Between 2014 and 2015, state law made a tiny tweak to how it weights funding for low-income students, making it count just a fraction less. In the money calculations, one factor moved by two one-hundredths. The result: IPS ended up with $115.66 less for each of its 30,000 students. The change to Zionsville, however, was a gain of 3 cents per student for each of its 6,200 students. Competing interests This year, urban districts may also have to compete against other education funding proposals. Proposals to boost charter school funding and increase the value of vouchers could take away from the total amount of state funding available for education, Democrats worry, putting a tighter squeeze on urban districts. But raising per-pupil funding at charter schools could allow successful schools like Herron to replicate and serve more students, said Brandon Brown, charter schools director for Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard. More funding could also allow charter schools to offer busing, increase extracurricular activities or invest more in academics, he added. Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools receive no dedicated tax money for expenses such as transportation services and building improvements. Right now theyre trying to stretch the little funds they do have extremely thinly, Brown said. Vouchers, also known as choice scholarships, use state dollars to offset the cost of private schools for students. But for elementary students, vouchers are capped at $4,800. Because that does not always fully cover tuition, raising the voucher amount could greatly benefit more low-income students, said Robert Enlow, president and CEO of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. With a larger state-subsidized scholarship, thats less of a cost that families have to cover on their own, helping them to better afford private educations. They should be given more money to attend a school thats best for them, Enlow said. Hoping for more money Experts suggest its possible to raise funding at schools without sinking urban ones — if lawmakers can provide a large enough increase in overall state funding for local schools. They have also expressed interest in continuing performance funding for K-12 education. In the current two-year state budget, state lawmakers tied $30 million to schools performance on the statewide ISTEP testng rates, End of Course Assessment passing rates and graduation rates. The cash awards went toward bonuses for teachers who rated well on evaluations. Ritz, a Democrat and the states top education official, said shes hoping for funding improvements. I guess Im hoping No. 1, we get more money to our schools, Ritz said, and second of all, Im always about making sure that weve got fair ways of making sure our schools are getting money for their students. Her spokesman said that includes recognizing special needs of distinct student populations. The problem is that not everyone is bullish on prospects for booming state revenues. The Senates chief budgetwriter, Noblesville Republican Luke Kenley, said hes on the same page as the House Republicans on adjusting the school funding formula, but said the biggest question remains how much money the state will have to work with. I dont have any concerns that we should be at least putting in as much as we did last time, unless we have some kind of an economic catastrophe, Kenley said. But the revenue returns just havent been that strong. For many, the question remains: If the state doesnt put in a sufficient amount of additional dollars for all schools, will districts like IPS watch their funding levels dip while suburban ones like Zionsville get a bump up as adjustments are made in the school funding formula. What Kenley points out — and what is widely agreed upon, including by Bosma — is that lawmakers are looking for the right balance with complexity funding, not an abolishment of it altogether. It would be impossible, Bosma has said, for school funding to be literally equal for all school districts: I dont think that adequately recognizes some of the challenges that some schools face, that some have a limited exposure to. Still, some supporters of traditional public schools worry the discourse around equal funding glosses over the distinct needs and challenges of urban districts. That is entirely inappropriate, said Chuck Little, executive director of the Indiana Urban Schools Association, and best summed up by: Theres no greater inequality than treating unequals equally.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 13:31:22 +0000
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