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Lawmakers to devise plan to help schools cope with gas costs Wednesday, Jun 4, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Seeking to help Arkansas school districts deal with soaring gas prices, a legislative committee voted Tuesday to develop a new funding mechanism for school transportation. The panel also recommended increasing funding for salaries and instructional materials by up to $58.8 million and recommended that the Legislature study ways to help teachers with rising health insurance costs. The Joint Adequacy Evaluation Oversight Subcommittee, which has been reviewing the state's school funding formula, voted unanimously to approve a motion by House Chairman Rep. Bill Abernathy, D-Mena, that the committee develop a funding mechanism to aid underfunded districts and "establish accountability between present funding and fair and essential transportation costs in all districts." Currently, districts receive $286 per student for transportation, based on total enrollment. Abernathy said Monday that two-thirds of districts have transportation costs in excess of their funding, while about a third are spending less than they receive. Abernathy proposed Monday creation of a new funding category for schools with high transportation costs, at an annual cost to the state of about $35 million. That motion failed after some lawmakers said the state should try to recoup some of the money going to overfunded schools. In an interview, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said he agreed with the committee's decision Tuesday. "If we're going to try and help those school districts whose fair and essential costs for transportation are exceeding the amount they are now receiving, then we also have to hold accountable those districts who are getting more money than they reasonably need," McDaniel said. The panel did not recommend a new per-student funding level for the two-year budget cycle that begins July 1, 2009, but it did recommend a range of inflationary adjustments to funding for salaries and instructional materials. The recommended range of increase was 1.6 percent to 2.8 percent, which would cost between $34.4 million and $58.8 million each year. The panel also recommended that the House and Senate education committees study ways to address the problem of rising health insurance costs for teachers. Arkansas teachers will see their insurance premiums increase in October by $28 per month for individual plans and $43 per month for employee and children plans, with additional increases expected the following two years. The subcommittee on adequacy is not the appropriate body to address the issue, some members said, because health insurance is not part of the criteria the state Supreme Court used for determining adequacy in the long-running Lake View school funding case. That case ended last year when the court ruled the state was adequately funding education. Sen. Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, said he wished the committee would "do the right thing" and address the health insurance issue. McDaniel said he agreed with the committee's decision. "Teachers in Arkansas need to know that that does not mean that there is a lack of commitment on that issue. It just simply means that from a legal standpoint, the evidence has not yet been put forward to demonstrate why it should be a part of the adequacy formula," McDaniel said. Gov. Mike Beebe said in April he is willing to consider increasing the state's contribution to teachers' insurance plans, but he added, "We do adequacy first." In an interview Tuesday, Argue referred to Beebe's past promises to continue cutting the state sales tax on groceries. Beebe and the Legislature reduced the tax by 50 percent last year. "Are we going to do health insurance or tax cuts first? That's the tougher question," Argue said. Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said the governor could not discuss hypothetical budget scenarios without knowing what the budget for the next biennium will look like. |
