Last week, the Fiscal Committee, along with Governor and Council, approved a request to authorize acceptance and expenditure of almost $41 million of Federal Education Jobs funds for education aid to local districts in the current fiscal year. The request calls for distribution of the funds through the state's "primary elementary and secondary education funding formula" (adequacy). Half of the $41 million is to be used for funding the current year appropriation, and the other half will provide additional aid above the
FY 2011 amount and is to be distributed to districts and charter schools proportionally. It was noted that the additional aid would be available to districts during the current fiscal year. A district that has funds remaining after the 2010-2011 school year may obligate those remaining funds through September 30, 2012. The Dept. of Education is working on administrative processes for this program and will be announcing instructions soon.
On Monday, November 15, the Dept. of Education released estimated
FY 2011-2012 Adequate Education Aid Grants information, based on the current 'adequate education law' (formula) (for details/amounts, see the
Dept. Education web site). As predicted, TOTAL State Adequacy Aid increases by $70 million to $1,010,979,530 (including $363 million from the statewide education property tax) and also results in approximately $17 million paid by "donor" towns. It is important to remember that these are estimates based on current law, and several legislators have submitted legislative proposals addressing adequacy that will likely be reviewed and debated this coming session.
The Dept. of Education also presented information at the Governor's Budget Hearing, explaining that the budget request for the next biennium is higher than the current FY 2011 total amount in order to fund obligations as set forth under current law. The initial request funds Adequacy at over $1 billion and fully funds other state aid programs (Building Aid, Catastrophic Aid, Tuition & Transportation Aid, Reading Recovery, Dropout Prevention, Statewide Special Education, Local Education Improvement, Career Tech Student Organizations, Kindergarten Construction, and Court Ordered Placements). As discussed at recent NHSBA regional meetings, fully funding these state commitments highlights some of the budget concerns that must be addressed in the upcoming session. More specifically, as noted above, Adequacy Aid increases by $70 million each year, creating the need to fund an additional $140 million in next biennium's budget. Additionally, $160 million of federal ARRA money was used to fund the state's commitment; absent additional federal revenue for such purpose, the state will need to cover this obligation, thereby increasing the total 'new' amount for adequacy to $300 million. Building Aid was bonded during the current budget cycle, and this approach cannot be sustained due to the resulting additional debt service; that places another $100 million 'burden' on the next budget. The recent shortfalls in Catastrophic Aid allocations highlight the need for $30 million to be made "whole" again, and another $10 million is needed for restoration of other programs such as Dropout Prevention and Tuition & Transportation. That brings the total to approximately $440 million for the biennium. Add another $75 million that the retirement system needs to restore the state share back from 25% to 35% for teachers, police and fire, and some of the 'constraints' that budget writers will be facing becomes apparent. Make a commitment now to spend time with your local representatives and senator to inform them of the amount of state aid you rely on for your budget, and how these revenues impact your local program.
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Accountability for an Adequate EducationThe
Task Force to Develop a Performance-Based Accountability System (also see
Dept. Educ.) continues to meet and work on developing a performance-based school accountability system that, beginning with the 2011-2012 school year, will serve as one method a school may use to demonstrate by the end of the school year that it is providing the opportunity for an adequate education. A progress report is due to the legislature in January, and the legislature must approve the plan before it goes into full implementation.
The Task Force has been working on a two part system: state-defined indicators measuring student academic achievement, participation, graduation, dropout and attendance; and locally defined indicators or measures of performance defined by the school or district to demonstrate that the school provides the opportunity for an adequate education. State-defined measures are to be analyzed and validated during the 2010-11 school year. Following legislative adoption of the performance-based system, the department will evaluate all schools using both the input-based and performance-based systems during the 2011-12 school year and publish a statewide report by October 1, 2012.