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Update for March 26-30, 2007 — From Mary Cecconi, Executive Director If this is your first update from Parents United, welcome!
Important Events Tuesday, April 10, 7-9 pm Wednesday, April 11, 2 pm, State Capitol (see below) Wednesday, April 18
Now we know what they are thinking The Senate E-12 Omnibus bill is complete. The House is just finishing up with their Education K-12 Omnibus Bill. Both bills will be completed before the legislature recesses this week.
One of the greatest disappointments this session has been the lack of financial support for early childhood programs. The Senate restores ECFE dollars to 2003 levels and the House places their resources toward All-Day K, but the early rhetoric about helping our earliest learners seems to have vaporized as the dollars began dwindling.
The next step in the process is for a conference committee to be appointed to negotiate one final Education Omnibus Bill from the two to be presented to the governor for his signature. The usually make-up of the conference committee is five members from the Senate and five from the House. The majority party will have a majority on the conference committee.
I will leave the comparison of the two bills to legislative staff who are definitely more capable than I to compare the fiscal and legal differences between the bills. They will have this comparison document completed for the conference committee. But, I have done a breakdown of the highlights of each of the bills. Also on our site is an overview of the Governor's Education budget presented in February.
Each of these bills was working within the target set by the leadership in the different bodies. The Senate target for education was $498 million, while the House target was $919 million. Each committee was charged with defining a certain amount of property tax relief within those dollar amounts.
Broad brush, the Senate chose to pay down the special education cross subsidy that has been described as the "sleeping giant." This cross subsidy has escalated since the state capped what it would pay for special education in 2003. The House chose to spend more dollars to increase the per pupil formula, transition to All-Day K, provide money for some expansion of programs, and pay a smaller portion of the special education cross subsidy.
Parents United believes that paying down the cross subsidy is the most upfront way of funding schools this session. The Senate is trying to pay what the state statute defines and that uses up all of their target dollars. The House bill is more generous and they try to help all districts by adding 3% per year to the per pupil formula and using an additional $106 million to make a dent in the cross subsidy debt.
If you remember, the state owes schools $512 million in cross subsidy for this year. Whereas, I am happy to see the generosity in the House bill, I do want to point out that for most schools in the state, much of that 3% that is placed on the per pupil formula will have to go to pay for cross subsidy, yet the local papers will talk about it as an "increase". I see that as a public relations nightmare.
The truth is schools need both an increase in the per pupil formula and the money the state owes for cross subsidy. Before you start thinking that I am asking too much, I want you to remember that during the property tax reforms in the early 2000's, the state removed nearly $1 billion dollars from school coffers.
The time has come for some very courageous decisions by our elected officials and we need to stand up and we need to show support for those courageous decisions. Tell your legislators what you think and if you support them, tell them you will stand by them. Don't ever make the mistake of taking your legislator's vote for granted. In the absence of your voice, many others will be heard.
Here are three things you can do!
Questions? Email Mary Cecconi
Parents United for Public Schools
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