Some six weeks after her December of 2010 visit, Education Commissioner Deborah Gist returned to Bristol Monday evening, Jan. 31, to discuss the statewide funding formula with the regional School Committee, local legislators, concerned community members and parents.
The funding formula became the central, and contentious subject of that Dec. 14, meeting which was intended to be an informational forum on the future of education in Rhode Island. At that time, Commissioner Gist agreed to return for a forum to exclusively discuss the structure of the funding formula.
Though lengthy introductions and statements by administration and members of the School Committee consumed much of the forum’s allotted 90 minutes, Gist was able to reschedule a 9 p.m. meeting and stay indefinitely to field questions and comments from legislators and community members.
Commissioner Gist and her staff presented the funding formula, and its application to the Bristol Warren Regional School District, broken down into its three components.
The first component is the core instructional amount, which is the per-student dollar amount that the district receives from the state to cover the “basic instructional needs” of each student. That category includes line items such as teachers and support staff, administrators, supplies, textbooks and equipment. Statewide, that number is $8,333 for fiscal year 2012.
Second, the Department of Education considers something it calls the “Student Success Factor,” to account for the additional funding required, above and beyond the core instructional amount, to support the increased cost of educating children whose family income makes them eligible to receive free and reduced lunch. That number is 40% of the core instructional amount, or $3,333 for fiscal year 2012.
The third component calculates a community’s ability to shoulder the burden of its school budget. It’s called the State Share Ratio and it attempts to measure a community’s ability to generate revenue based on local assessed property values adjusted for the median family income and the number of students enrolled in free and reduced lunch.
So, all that put together means that Bristol and Warren’s 3,453 students, of which 1,149 are enrolled in free and reduced lunch, carry a core instructional cost of $32,603,696. With a state share ratio of 33.1%, Bristol Warren will receive a reduction of $808,561 from the state for fiscal year 2012. The budget will be reduced by the same amount annually over a 10 year period. After the 10 year amortization period has ended, Bristol Warren will receive approximately $10,775,534 from the state annually.
There are ways to ameliorate some of the pain of that shortfall. There’s what’s called categorical aid – currently unfunded – that would include a set-to-expire regional bonus, transportation costs, and special education allowances. Regardless of which of these get fully funded in the next state budget, tough choices will need to be made.
School Committee member Susan Rancourt of Warren asked if there might be bonuses or allowances for effective management and high performance – both of which have been feathers in the district’s cap in recent years. The success of the district of late was an issue that was mentioned repeatedly as a reason why Bristol and Warren should not be subjected to a funding formula that would be detrimental to its bottom line. Each time it was raised, Commissioner Gist agreed that performance-based bonuses are very much in line with her vision, and indicated that she would be open to further discussion of the issue.
Bristol Committee member Diana Campbell asked if there was any flexibility in the final number to be cut, to which Commissioner Gist reiterated that the funding formula is a “living” calculation, adjusted yearly according to changing demographics.
Committee member Denise Arsenault questioned a state plan to spend $1 million on subsidized pre-k in 15 of the poorest districts in the state, a distinction which Bristol Warren does not hold. Arsenault objected to money being diverted from our local school budget to the benefit of the state’s poorest communities. It was another theme that would be repeated throughout the evening, with Committee member Marjorie McBride asking “Why is this based on poverty? Just because our houses cost $500,000 it doesn’t mean that five families aren’t living behind that door and it’s not a nightmare.”
Paul Silva, the Committee Vice Chairman, objected to poverty being used as a measurement in the formula, to which Commissioner Gist replied, “Respectfully, it does cost more to educate a child in poverty,” and reiterated that every community, across the state, was receiving an additional 40% in funding for each child that was enrolled in free and reduced lunch.
The forum became notably more heated with comments from Bristol Warren’s delegation to the State House, with Representative Gallison’s remarks provoking Commissioner Gist to ask “are you suggesting that I came to Rhode Island to become Education Commissioner so I could target Bristol Warren and take money away from your district?” For his part, Representative Morrison asserted that Gist and her team came to Bristol, pulling figures from the air “like amoebas” and “splitting atoms,” while suggesting that money was being diverted from Bristol Warren to pay for students in Central Falls.
