The Capitol Report

By Rep. Therese Sander, District 22

OF SCHOOLS AND BUDGETS

Should Hold Harmless schools be required to participate in the pain of budget cuts or should they continue to be held harmless? When a school district is “held harmless” it means they won’t get less any money than they used to receive under the old formula even though the new formula, if applied to them, would have decreased their funding. That question framed a two hour debate on a supplemental budget bill in the house on Wednesday.

Representative Rachel Bringer represents a number of rural districts, as do I. She proposed an amendment that would have required hold harmless districts to absorb some of the impact of the cuts from which their hold harmless status has protected them so far. She continually brought up the Kirkwood school district as an example of a hold harmless school district that has a very substantial real estate tax base, and therefore is able to spend a lot more money per pupil than her rural school districts are able to do. With the list of hold harmless school districts in her hand, she offered to share the list with any of her colleagues who were interested. Before long, copies of the multi-page document were being distributed to members in the chamber for their use. Upon checking that list, I found that five of the nine school districts located in Randolph and Chariton counties were among those in the “hold harmless” category. All but one was a tiny district that struggles daily with keeping its doors open. Yet, her argument posed a fairness issue that I wondered if I should consider.

I was truly conflicted until our budget chairman pointed out a practical fact of reality that helped me make my decision. Even though the budget committee has had to adjust downward the authorization of operating money for schools in the ongoing current fiscal year, he pointed out that no school was going to receive less actual dollars this year than last year. They just weren’t going to receive as much of an increase as they expected to receive with the fourth year of phasing in the new foundation formula. Hold harmless districts have not been getting any of the increases in the education funding that the foundation formula districts have been receiving since the phase in of the new foundation formula began in 2006. They receive exactly the same amount every year that they received under the last year of the old formula. However, if Representative Bringer’s amendment were to pass, those hold harmless districts would have received a decrease in actual dollars compared to the previous school year. Once that fact was made clear, my decision was easy and I voted no on her amendment, which failed.

You may wonder why such an animal as a ‘hold harmless district’ exists anyway. As one of the legislators who heard hours of testimony about the foundation formula while sitting on an interim committee, and then heard hours more testimony as part of the subcommittee that responded to and gave input on the new formula as it was being crafted, I can tell you that balancing the needs of the many diverse school districts throughout the state is a very difficult task. The old formula was unsustainable because it was quickly driving the state to bankruptcy. A change had to be made. Because the new formula went in a completely different direction that no longer rewarded local effort as richly as the old one did, the schools in the 22^nd District which I mentioned before stood to lose a lot without some compromise. The compromise was to hold them harmless. Many such compromises were made in order to secure passage of a formula by a majority of the legislature. Is it perfect? No. Is ‘perfect’ possible politically? No! We live in a real world and do our best with the circumstances we are presented with.

As always, you can reach me at 573-751-6566 or by email at Therese.Sander@house.mo.gov.