Lawmakers close to revealing cost to state of 'adequate' education

Lawmakers will see a preliminary cost figure Monday for the state’s Supreme Court-ordered share of paying for an adequate education for every public school child. Rep. Emma Rous (D-Durham) co-chairs a commission that studied the problem for months and took a recent straw vote on the first draft of a costing plan.

“We have to report our formal findings no later than Feb. 1,” Rous said. “That is fast approaching.”

The Office of Legislative Budget Assistant is doing the numbers this weekend on a formula she explained Thursday to the House Finance Committee. She stressed that schools will have time to brace for any changes in state aid. The law that gives them roughly $900-million per year will stay in force until the fall of 2009.

Rep. Judy Reever (D-Laconia) serves on the school funding commission and said it will see the numbers for the first time along with everyone else.

“I suppose if I had a figure floating around in my head, I might not be free to say what it is,” she added. “But we really don’t know.”

The commission will hold a binding vote shortly before its deadline.

“I hope we have bipartisan support,” Reever said. “I’m confident we will meet the court directive.”

One of her goals is to close the educational gap between rich towns and poor towns. The commission would do that by linking the state’s burden to the average classroom costs around the state.

“Hopefully, that will get rid of some of the inequities,” Reever said. “Paying more for the most expensive kids will help too. The free and reduced lunch rate is a pretty good indicator of the schools that need extra aid.”

According to the commission, the state should pay for one teacher per 25 pupils in kindergarten through grade two and one teacher per 30 kids in grades three through 12. That person’s salary would be $33,847, plus 33-percent in benefits. It’s the statewide average for someone with a BA and three years of classroom experience.

The state would foot the cost of teaching the core subjects like math, science, social studies, English, foreign languages, art, gym, music, technology and health, as well as a librarian for every 500 kids and a technology coordinator for every 1,500. The state would fund a guidance counselor at $37,141 for every 400 kids, a custodian at $30,000 for every 500, a secretary at $30,000, and a principal at $75,159 for every 500. All would get benefits.

The state would provide $250 per child for instructional materials, $75 per student for computers and software, $20 for teacher development, $315 for transportation, and $195 for facility operations and maintenance.

But the fiscal report next week will be incomplete. The commission has yet to decide what to pay for kids who cost more than the average to educate. Tens of thousands of youngsters receive lunch subsidies, speak English as a second language or qualify for special education.

Dean Michener, lobbyist for the School Boards Association, said the formula needs to give heavy weight to these students. The research shows these at risk-kids need more and different resources to stay in school. He cited the Meadows program at Gilford High School as the right way to reach them, but it takes extra money.

They meet for hands-on learning at a former farm with 66 acres, a farmhouse, a greenhouse, a garage and a large barn. In this relaxed atmosphere the kids do real-world projects like building and selling Adirondack wood products. According to Gilford School Board chairman Susan Allen, this relaxed setting makes a big difference for kids who flounder in the traditional classroom.

Lawmakers voted last year to mandate kindergarten. Some school districts have asked for four years to comply, but the costing commission voted Nov. 19 to make them offer kindergarten by September 2009. The state would pay 100-percent of the cost for new modular kindergarten classrooms and 75-percent for the construction of traditional classrooms. Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare, a member of House Finance, warned that school boards have called the policy change an unfunded, unconstitutional state mandate.

“Our position is the state meets its responsibility by meeting the cost of adequacy,” Rous replied.

Reever agreed there could be a struggle over kindergarten.

“But if the total cost falls within a range that doesn’t blow people away,” she said, “they’ll take a good look at what we’ve done. We hope we can present something less than people expected.”

Rep. Fran Wendelboe (R-New Hampton) serves on House Finance and said some schools have a much smaller student-to-teacher ratio than the state would pay for.

“Those schools will be at a disadvantage,” Wendelboe said. “There are going to be winners and losers, as with any plan. Will the legislature be able to pass this when they see who those towns are?”

“I certainly hope so,” Rous said. “Class size is mostly a local decision.”

Rep. Fred King (R-Colebrook) said many schools in the North Country are tiny. They have no choice about their small class sizes.

Bill Grimm, the principal of Franklin Career Academy Charter School, said the plan is silent about paying for public charter schools like his.

“What they pay most schools won’t be adequate for us,” he warned. “We can’t ask for help from local taxpayers. All we can do is fundraise, but you can’t bring in enough revenue to run a school that way.”

State School Board member Fred Bramante offered his own adequacy plan two years ago. It would have cost $5,800 per student and $1.2 billion statewide. Former Rep. Mike Asselin (R-Bridgewater) developed the spreadsheets.

“The way they’re doing it this time, I don’t think it will be any less than that amount,” Bramante said.

He predicted a major battle over raising at least $300-million in new revenue. His plan would have footed a bit more than half the cost of adequacy. He explained the state has already paid the rest of its share by building the improvements that made towns like Waterville Valley so rich.