SK Officials Express Concern Over School Funding Formula (RI)

May 21, 2010

Passing a school funding formula is a priority for this year’s legislative session, local lawmakers said in a joint work session with the Town Council and School Committee on Monday. But they vowed to continue to argue South Kingstown’s case that the formula is flawed.

The funding formula has been advanced by Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and introduced in the General Assembly by House Finance Chairman Steven Constantino (D-Dist. 8) of Providence. Gist’s plan – key to the state’s bid for federal Race to the Top education funding – would reduce state school aid to South Kingstown by $3.8 million over eight years.

“[South Kingstown] has legitimate concerns,” said Rep. Don ald Lally (D-Dist. 33) of Narragansett, South Kingstown and North Kingstown. “But they have counted [representatives] and have enough to get it past the ‘have nots.’ We will try to hold it up until [2012].”

Lally said it might be possible to get a funding formula passed but delay its implementation until at least 2012.

“No matter what the outcome, we want to make sure South Kingstown has enough money to fund education the way they want it, and so [Wakefield Elementary] can remain open, at least until contract negotiations next year,” said Rep. David Caprio (D-Dist. 34) of South Kingstown and Narragansett. “If it were not for the urgency about closing the school, I wonder if the funding formula would be at the forefront?”

“It will affect all schools in town, and is important,” said Town Council President Kathleen Fogarty. “Gist will be here Wednesday. I see cracks in her formula. I think she might realize that delay is something to do.”

The “cracks” are largely the work of Town Manager Stephen A. Alfred, who testified on the bill before the House Finance Committee last Thursday. He frames the debate not in terms of dollars loss, but fairness.

“It was a disservice statewide to present one formula, with one presentation of who wins and who loses,” Alfred told local lawmakers during a work session on Monday. “If adjustments are made, the winners will look like they lost money, rather than it becoming an equitable distribution of funds.”

Alfred said several factors make Gist’s plan unfair. To start, the state Department of Education proposes a core education cost of $8,295 per student. This is an average of the cost in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut, but is less than the core cost in 2008, Alfred n oted. It also excludes some surprising costs, like transportation – which costs more in spread-out suburban areas – local pensions and the cost of post-employment benefits.

“Is the cost of education abnormally high [in Rhode Island]? Yes,” Alfred said. “But 80 percent is driven by labor and benefit costs, and that is not going to be solved with a funding formula.”

He questioned why the formula uses property values from 2007 and census information from 2000, but current student population figures, and why it uses two poverty factors, which skews the financial impact on suburban communities.

Gist’s plan also uses a mathematical formula to equalize median family income across the state – which takes into account community wealth, property values and income. But it adds a second factor for the number of free and reduce lunch students from pre-kindergarten to Grade 6. With the second factor added in, some communities, like Narragansett and Newport, would owe the state money for school funding, Alfred said, so they are set to zero.

According to Alfred’s calculations, if the formula were passed as written, the state would pay for 17.3 percent of South Kingstown’s education costs, while paying 85.43 percent of Providence’s costs. But remove median family income as a poverty driver, and that would change to 25.12 percent and 79.43 percent, respectively.

The formula does not adequately document what Alfred believes will be increased charter school and vocational school tuitions. That could mean an additional $229,000 cost to the district, to cover the tuition of 103 South Kingstown students in charter schools and eight who attend the Met School in Providence as a vocational option. And if South Kingstown’s student population follows its projected dip, the district would lose an additional $247,000 next year, Alfred said. For the past several years, the town has received $375,000 in group home aid to offset the cost of out-of-town youths placed locally. But that aid was not included in Governor Carcieri’s proposed budget, which could spell more losses.

All told, between the state budget deficit (see related story, A4) and the funding formula, the schools could find themselves $1.4 million in the red next year, Alfred said.

“I am more concerned about the funding formula as presented than I am about the implementation date,” Alfred said. “We have to look at the long-term, not the short-term gain. What is fair and equitable? Do I assume we will lose funding? Absolutely.”

Town officials had another chance to make their case on Wednesday, after the Independent went to press, when Gist held a work session on Race to the Top with the Town Council and School Committee.