Vander Linden Capitol Update 1/22/2015
Vander Linden
Stability and Growth in Education Funding
From 2002 to 2012, education funding in Iowa was a tumultuous period. This is evidenced by numerous across the board cuts – which affected education and every other area of the budget – and moves by the legislature to underfund the state’s responsibility in the school funding formula.
Over that decade it happened no less than 6 times with the capstone being the 2010 10% across-the-board cut. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this graph is worth $530 million dollars.
The result of increasing state spending to unsustainable levels and spending one-time money for ongoing expenses mixed with an economic collapse caused education funding in this state to take a $530 million loss in one single year. The state is still trying to recover from that loss. This is an example that the House looks to as we form our budgeting principles.
It was on this foundation that House Republicans and Governor Branstad began their work in 2011 of stabilizing not only education funding but the entire budget, while at the same time providing unprecedented growth to school funding.
Over $450 million in new state dollars have been appropriated to Iowa’s schools since Republicans gained control of the House and the Governor’s office. Some of these years have seen more growth than at any point in Iowa’s history.
The Funding is just part of the picture
In addition to providing unprecedented growth in the school funding formula, the legislature also passed a bipartisan education reform package two years in a row. 2013’s education reform bill, House File 215, was where the real change happened.
On top of the $450 million new dollars provided to schools over the past 4 years, HF 215 appropriated an additional $150 million ($50 million incrementally over 3 years) and created a new teacher leadership and compensation system that will fundamentally change how teachers cooperate and grow in their profession.
This isn’t just money into the system for the sake of more money. It’s potentially revolutionary change in a system that doesn’t change often. The new TLC program went live this year in 39 school districts with the goal of being statewide in 2 more years, making Iowa the first state in the nation to provide a state-wide teacher leadership system and adequately fund it for success. States around the country will be watching Iowa and following our lead into a new support system for teachers that will do much for student success in the future.
The big picture
House Republicans are the products of this state’s education system, through Iowa’s public elementary schools, private schools, home school families, community colleges, private colleges, and the state universities. The state spends nearly 60% of its dollars on education in this state, proving that education is our top priority.
House Republicans made a campaign promise that they would get the budget under control and end bad budgeting practices and out of control spending. They vowed to not spend more than the state takes in. They vowed to not spend one-time money on on-going expenses. And they are adhering to those principles year after year, providing stability while at the same time providing unprecedented growth in education.
Per Pupil Amount Breakdown
There are a number of per pupil spending amounts being tossed around in various talking points used by legislators, lobbyists and the media. Below is a breakdown of where those numbers come from and what they mean.
$6,366 State Cost Per Pupil
The backbone of school funding is the School Funding Formula which forms the basis for state aid to districts. It’s based on the State Cost Per Pupil (SCPP), which for FY15 (2014/2015 school year) is $6,366. This number grows annually when the legislature sets the growth percentage, known as Supplemental State Aid (SSA, previously Allowable Growth).
This SCPP is a mixture of state aid and property taxes. There’s a uniform levy of $5.40 per / $1,000 property value in the district, then the state aid fills the pot up to 87.5% of the SCPP. The remaining 12.5%, called the Additional Levy, is entirely property taxes.
A new effort started in FY14 is called the Property Tax Replacement Payment and it involves the state paying for any increase in the 12.5% portion of the funding formula thus saving Iowans money due to higher property taxes.
$10,000 Per Pupil Total Allocation
But the SCPP per pupil isn’t all a district receives. Other numbers being used are amounts over $10,000. How entities, such as the National Center for Education Statistics and the National Education Association, pick and choose what funds they use to determine a per pupil amount is up to those entities.
The Governor has been using $10,900 per pupil in his comments early this session. This is presumably a number that includes some of his FY16 proposals, which include an additional $85 million on school aid this upcoming year.
A reliable measure to use in Iowa comes from the Department of Education in the form of Allocation Summary documents, which are “comprehensive listings of state, federal and local dollars for each school district.” According to this document, the FY15 (2014/2015 school year) per pupil amount when taking into account all state, local, and federal tax dollars is $10,231. It has grown just shy of $1,000 per pupil over the past 5 years.
This $10,231 consists of 32 different funds:
1) Regular Program
2) Budget Adjustment
3) Supplemental Weighting
4) Special Education Instruction
5) Teacher Salary Supplement
6) Professional Development Supplement
7) Early Intervention Supplement
8) Preschool
9) Instructional Support Income Surtax
10) Instructional Support Property Tax
11) Educational Improvement
12) Modified Supplemental State Aid – Dropout
13) Management Levy
14) Regular PPEL
15) Voted PPEL-Income Surtax
16) Voted PPEL-Property Tax
17) PERL
18) FY 14 Modified Supplemental Amount
19) FY 13 Modified Supplemental Amount for Special Ed Deficit
20) Educator Mentoring & Induction
21) Title I
22) Title 1 Migrant
23) Title 1 Neglected
24) Title 1 Delinquent
25) Title II Part A
26) Title III English Language Acquisition
27) 21st Century Learning Centers
28) Title VI
29) FY 14 Small Rural Schools Achievement Program (REAP)
30) FY 14 Rural Low Income Schools (RLIS) Program
31) IDEA Part B
32) Carl D. Perkins
The discussion on education funding has started. It is early and there are a lot of different ideas that need to be sorted out. There is a public hearing with the Education Committee regarding supplemental state aid at 7pm on Monday, January 26 at the State Capitol in Des Moines.
