Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home School District #55 has asked state representatives Sherri Sprenger and Phil Barnhart to address the state’s education funding equalization formula and implement improvements, which could increase funding to Sweet Home schools.
Both representatives have visited Sweet Home in recent weeks, Sprenger at a town hall meeting on April 19, and Barnhart on April 12, to visit the School District and Holley School.
School District Business Manager Kevin Strong asked both to look into what he says are funding inequalities that favor some districts over others, such as Sweet Home.
“Evidence shows that the current equalization formula does not create a level playing field for Oregon’s school districts and students,” Strong said. “For example, a district with no homeless students receives over $1,000 more per student per year than a district where over 10 percent of the students are considered homeless. The less-funded school district also has a higher percentage of special education students.”
He submitted six suggestions to make the equalization formula more rational.
First, he asked that the facilities grant be eliminated. Under the grant, which he said should be called the “anti-Robin Hood Grant,” districts receive grant funding from the state to be used for furnishing and equipping school buildings, reducing the amount of money available for distribution through the State School Fund.
Districts that pass bond measures are, in effect, receiving a subsidy from districts without bond measures, Strong said.
Second, he asked that the legislature equalize the weight given to students in poverty with students in English As A Second Language programs. The state awards a half-weight to students in English learning programs compared to a quarter-weight for students in poverty. Schools with more English-learning students receive more funding per student than those with a larger amount of students in poverty.
“Perhaps it is a coincidence, but Tigard-Tualatin gave staff members raises and insurance contribution increases for the 2011-12 school year, while Coos Bay was featured on NBC Nightly News for its budget reductions,” Strong said. Tigard-Tualatin has 12 percent of its students listed as English language learners with 6 percent listed in poverty. Coos Bay has 2 percent in English language learning, while 23 percent of its students are in poverty.
He asked that the legislature also modify the “small high school correction,” which gives a wealthy district like Riverdale, located in the Portland area, $8,018 per student in 2012-13, while some Oregon districts with free and reduced lunch eligibility rates exceeding 60 percent and homeless rates exceeding 10 percent receive $1,000 less per student.
Fourth, he asked for a modification to the “remote elementary school correction,” which provides a financial incentive for districts to make decisions that do not best utilize tax dollars. Under this correction, districts may continue operating a school that is more than eight miles from the next closest school while closing another that actually costs less to operate. Under this correction, Scappoose School District, with 16.6 students per square mile, is scheduled to receive an extra $291,000 in 2012-13, while Sweet Home, with 2.1 students per square mile, will not receive any additional funds.
Fifth, he asked that the state allow districts to pay charter schools based on charter school data rather than districtwide data.
The State School Fund formula uses teacher experience to calculate the funding rate. Counting all schools in Sweet Home, the district has an average experience of 11.9 years, while the Sweet Home Charter School has an average experience of 3.8 years, which reduces the overall average experience.
Sweet Home loses some $68,600 in the formula, Strong said, because it is required to pay the Charter School as if its teachers had 11.9 years of experience instead of 3.8 years.
Sixth, Strong asked that property tax exemptions be made more difficult.
Some districts grant developers permission for property tax exemptions because their districts will not be harmed directly, Strong said. Reductions in property taxes are offset by the State School Fund. Hillsboro recently granted an exemption to build a low-income housing complex, and the district would collect $78,000 less in property taxes as a result. The State School Fund would make up the difference, meaning the state has $78,000 less to distribute to school districts throughout the state.
Sprenger said Strong’s concerns have merit.
She related a story she heard about Riverdale High School. An administrator there encountered an upset student. When he asked what was wrong, he learned that the student’s father had cut off his Visa card. The student was ticked off.
“That is the culture of that school,” Sprenger said, while timber districts are “sucking wind.” The funding is supposed to be equal.
“We need to look at the formula,” Sprenger said. One of the things she says she learned when she went to Salem, though, is that the subject is not partisan, but it is taboo. When the legislature looks at it, districts and their representatives start worrying about losing funding, and they push back.
Barnhart is co-chairman of the Revenue Committee, which is responsible for the formula.
“I’ve been looking at that material for the purpose of a review of the school funding formula,” Barnhart said. “We haven’t done that in awhile, and it is time to get it done. We’re going to be working on it anyway. We have decided we’re going to do a review of the issues and how that formula works. These suggestions he (Strong) has made are very very timely.”
The next session is in 2013, so it won’t affect the next school year, Barnhart said.
Sprenger and Barnhart also addressed funding for the Veterans Home in Lebanon and cougar issues.
Cougars
Sprenger has been attempting to pass a bill to allow cougar hunting with dogs in certain areas as a pilot project addressing growing cougar populations, which have increased the frequency of sightings around Sweet Home within the past couple of years, including a sighting by a police officer on Main Street and a school vehicle hitting a cougar last winter.
Livestock owners are dealing with increasing numbers of attacks on their stock as well.
Strong, representing the School District’s interest in student safety, “absolutely hit a home run” testifying in favor of the bill last year, but it has yet to get out of committee.
In addition, Mike Martell of Sweet Home noted that government trappers are using dogs to hunt the cougars anyway, while sport hunters are banned from using dogs, and taxpayers are on the hook for the cost. Voters banned hunters from using dogs to hunt cougars in 1994.
“We are hunting cougars with dogs in this state,” Sprenger siad. “We’re just paying for it with tax dollars.”
“They didn’t vote to take it from the public and give it to the federal government,” Martell said.
Sprenger promised to continue trying to find a solution to deal with the growing cougar population, which is encroaching on urban areas, like Sweet Home.
“The biggest hangup in hunting, is the anti-hunting people and environmentalists,” Sprenger said.
“The main thing to be aware of with the cougar hunting is this is an issue the people voted on,” Barnhart said. The legislature is reluctant to act contrary to the voters’ decision.
“I think it’s really important for us to figure out how to manage the cougar population so we don’t have cougars mixing in with towns and kids,” Barnhart said. He is not an expert on the issue, but he would consider a plan to deal with cougars, which are an important part of the ecosystem.
“It’s also important that they be in their place, not ours,” Barnhart said.
Veterans Home
Sprenger vowed to ask the legislature for funding to help pay for the new Veterans Home to be constructed in Lebanon.
Linn County voters passed a local option levy to pay the county’s $10 million stake in the home, Sprenger said. “My husband and I are two of those that said, ‘Tax us.’ I think it’s great for Lebanon (and Linn County), but more important than that, it’s a good thing for the veterans. That’s enough reason to do it right here.”
Lebanon was number one in the site selection process, Sprenger said. The state required the community come up with $10 million, and Linn County said, “tax us. We’ll do it.”
But the state chose to build a second home in Roseburg, she said. Douglas County went to the legislature and asked for funding in the 2011 session, and the legislature awarded the county Oregon Lottery funds to cover its share of the construction costs. Douglas County had a co-speaker of the house and a Republican whip looking for the funding.
Sprenger said the Roseburg community did come up with some of the resources for its home.
“Linn County’s saying, that’s not fair,” Sprenger said. “I would agree.”
This year, Sprenger and Andy Olson, R-Albany, tried to get funding to replace Linn County’s local option levy.
“We didn’t get that money,” Sprenger said. “We will continue to work for it.
“We can argue where the money comes from till the cows come home, but the vets win.”
Barnhart said he recently discussed this issue with Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist.
“I tried to raise the issue in the short session (this year) and wasn’t able to get anywhere with it,” Barnhart said. He certainly will raise the issue again. “If the state’s going to pay for one, it should pay for the other one too.”