What did House A&R just say?

The SEEK base guarantee per pupil would go down for 2010-11 and then up a bit for 2011-12 under the bill reported out yesterday by the House Appropriation and Revenue Committee:

The bill does not mandate the two instructional days added in 2007-08.  That means that districts can drop back to 175 student learning days and 185 teacher contract days.  In the current fiscal environment, that will mean allow most districts actually must drop those two days.

Meanwhile, the state share of SEEK base funding would go down more than $200 million next year and up only $9 million the next year:

Why does the state total funding look different from the base guarantee?  It's because under the SEEK formula, the state does not pay the full guarantee.  Instead, each district must first contribute 30¢ for each $100 of taxable property. The state then adds what is needed to fund the base guarantee amount and provide "add-on" funding for students with additional learning challenges.

In effect, House A&R is counting on local revenue to rise.  If local taxes pay a larger share of the guarantee, the state can pay less.  And for next year, the budget bill that just passed out of committee does indeed plan for the state to pay less.

As always, the bill coming from the House Committee is sure to undergo multiple amendments before the budget is finalized.


Notes for detail lovers: The 2010-11 state share of SEEK base funding shown above includes $182 million that will actually come from the federal government under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act--also known as the stimulus bill. The 2008-09 and 2009-10 state shares of SEEK come from Department of Education files and reflect the total calculated SEEK base guarantee amount for all districts minus the local district 30¢ contribution.