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3/5/12 School system may lose $5.9M1/2epaper.americanpress.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToPrint_APRESS…

Publication: American Press;Date: Feb 28, 2012;Section: Front Page;Page: 1

School system may lose $5.9MBESE approves new per-student funding method

BY ASHLEY WITHERS AMERICAN PRESS

The Calcasieu Parish school system is expected to lose about $5.9 million in state funding as a result of theMinimum Foundation Program formula approved Monday by the state Board of Elementary and SecondaryEducation.But Superintendent Wayne Savoy said the cut is nothing to be worried about yet.“Those calculations are not based on actual numbers. They are based on unofficial estimates,” Savoy said. “I’mnot alarmed yet because I know the numbers.”The formula, to be sent to the state Legislature in early March, is based on parish enrollment estimates. ButSavoy said the actual funding will be based on February enrollment, which is now being verified.The Legislature will vote on the formula, but it’s unable to make adjustments to BESE’s proposal.The formula simulation funds the schooling of 679,000 students at a cost of $3.4 billion for the 2012-2013 schoolyear. The per-student state funding will remain the same as in previous school years, but the money will not belimited to public schools.Private and charter schools that accept vouchers will receive additional funding for each student in the voucher program.“The concept is budgeting to follow the child,” said Holly Boffy, District 7’s BESE representative.But according to the state Department of Education, this type of formula will hurt Calcasieu Parish’s funding,especially with the addition of another charter school in the area.“Calcasieu is estimated to have a decrease in funding because they are losing students to charter schools,” saidBeth Scioneaux, the department’s deputy superintendent of finance.“However, they do not have the cost of educating the students either. I think the community will embrace the ideathat local students should benefit from local tax dollars.”Savoy disagrees. “They are estimating that all of the children going to the charter schools are from Calcasieupublic schools, and that is not true,” he said.Before the formula was approved by BESE, the original proposal was amended to put a child’s eligibility for ascholarship or voucher in the hands of the Legislature.“Our state doesn’t have the capacity to fit every child from a ‘C,’ ‘D’ or ‘F’ school into a charter or private school,”Boffy said. “I’m hoping that by putting it in the hands of the Legislature, it will really be based on who has the greatestneed.”Boffy proposed an amendment to the original formula that said all schools that will receive public funds as a resultof the new funding plan will be subject to an ac countability system.