Legislature gives school districts some breathing room

It's not a lot, but it will do.

That's the message superintendents from the county's five largest school districts had earlier this week after recalculating their general fund budgets based on the assumption that House Bill 63 will be signed into law by Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

HB 63, sponsored by Rep. Dan Villa, would put approximately $70 million into school districts around the state, according to most estimates, and is intended to be a stop-gap solution while Legislators try to develop a long-term funding formula. The state Supreme Court upheld a district court ruling last fall that said the state's funding formula was unconstitutional, but coming up with a new formula is a project the Legislature has yet to finalize.

One of the most important aspects of the bill would be to allow school districts to use a three-year average in calculating "average number belonging," or ANB, which would be a big boost to most of the districts in the county, superintendents said.

Under the state's current funding formula, a district's population in October and February is averaged together, creating the ANB count, as it's known, which largely determines how much money the district will receive the following year. By allowing ANB counts to be averaged over a three-year period, HB 63 helps mitigate larger drops in student population — something almost all of the county's districts faced this year.

Although the population decline varied from district to district, only the Charlo School District experienced an increase. However, if HB 63 is signed into law, as it is expected to be, it would mean a brighter outlook for all of the districts next year, superintendents said.

"The ANB averaging made a difference. It allowed us to pick up 50 students (worth of funding) at the elementary budget and eight kids at the high school budget," Ronan superintendent Andy Holmlund said. "That (HB 63) was a positive move to our budget outlook."

The Ronan School District faced the sharpest decline in students of all the county's districts, losing 43 students at the elementary level and 12 at the high school level this year, but HB 63 would all but erase that. The revised budget projections, provided by the state's Office of Public Instruction and delivered to superintendents by county superintendent Joyce Decker Wegner earlier this week, were welcome news.

"We got $2.615 million for the general fund, which was more than $100,000 than last year," St. Ignatius superintendent Tim Skinner said of his budget. "With that, and our impact aid monies, I think we will be OK. It's going to be tight, but we will be OK. It will tide us over."

St. Ignatius saw a decline of 13 students overall this year, which would have resulted in a budget deficit of about $36,000 — not drastic, but noticeable, Skinner said in an interview last month.

St. Ignatius, Arlee and Ronan school district budgets also include a significant amount of impact aid money, which is money given to districts that have students living on federal land to replace money they would have normally gotten from property taxes. The Polson School District also receives impact aid, but is more reliant on property taxes than the other districts.

Skinner said impact aid represents about $800,000 worth of funding for the St. Ignatius district. While he's pleased with the boost HB 63 would give, he said he's also worried that talk of a future funding formula — which won't be worked out until later this year, at the earliest — includes potential cuts to impact aid.

"I'm nervous about the new funding formula that they are trying to build because it puts our impact aid at risk," he said.

Arlee superintendent Gordon Friberg said that without the influx of money, the district would have been looking at a deficit of more than $225,000. As it is, the school board will consider a Reduction-in-Force (RIF) measure at its May 11 meeting, Friberg said.

"The biggest thing that helped was that the Legislature did the three-year average for attendance. Had the funding formula not been changed, we would have been looking at more cutbacks than we have to," he said.

The Arlee elementary district took a hard hit, dropping by 36 students from last year, which represents almost eight percent of its student body. Friberg said that RIF discussions at this point involve three potential positions, but that that hasn't been finalized.

"Hypothetically, we could have lost six or seven (without the extra money)," he said.

Non-tenured teachers have been given notice that their contracts for next year might not be renewed, Friberg said. In RIF discussions, school boards must juggle teacher endorsements in specific areas with the needs of the district and the credentials of its tenured staff. A teacher is tenured during their fourth year in the Arlee district, Friberg said.

In Polson, board members will go to the district's taxpayers again next Tuesday, May 3, when they will vote on a proposed mill levy, which if approved, would generate about $186,000 for the elementary district (which includes the middle school) and $55,000 for the high school. Voters can vote separately on each levy.

If approved, it would mean a tax increase of $14.23 per $100,000 assessed home value for the elementary district and $3.28 for the high school district.

According to figures provided by Polson superintendent Sue McCormick's office, even if the elementary levy and HB 63 are approved, the district would still experience a $221,000 shortfall, and an almost $71,000 deficit at the high school levy.

Although voters shot down a proposed mill levy increase by the Polson Rural Fire District by a narrow margin earlier this month, McCormick said taxpayers have historically supported Polson school levies.

"This community has been very supportive of schools," she said. "We are blessed because of the community support they've shown many times, and in many different ways."

Voting will take place at the Linderman gym next Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Holmlund said in an interview last month that the Ronan board would not ask for a mill levy election because the local community is still paying the bond on the Ronan Event Center. Another tax increase would be too much to justify, he said.

As it is, the Ronan elementary budget will be about $3.765 million and the high school budget will be about $1.976 million, which is a better outlook than a month ago.

"We're still working away at trying to meet the needs of all our kids," Holmlund said.

For Friberg and other superintendents forced to juggle budget cuts even with an influx of money, it forces a district to consider the impact on activities as well as personnel.

Cutting too many activities to save teachers' jobs is a vicious cycle because it can drive students away to other districts that offer more activities, Friberg explained, thus causing more budget cuts in the future. (Most districts, including Lake County's, have flexible arrangements that allow students to attend school out-of-district simply by processing some paperwork.)

"We already have declining enrollment, and if we cut extracurricular activities, we could see a massive migration (to other districts)," Friberg said. "Sometimes you have to look at your plan so that we are not shooting ourselves in the foot."

Friberg said he was concerned about the future funding formula currently in development, and reiterated Skinner's concerns about its potential impact on federal funding.

"The state needs to look ahead at what the President is proposing, and that's cuts in federal (education) funding. We are already underfunded as far as No Child Left Behind goes, so the question is, what is the state going to do about declining federal dollars?" Friberg said. "Is the state going to come up with the money so we can meet the (federal and state) mandates, or is it going to be a dead-end street?"