Revised 7/20/05

2007-2008  Legislative Priorities

Therefore, we would like to pursue support for the following priority issues for FY 2009.  It should be noted that these issues are not listed in a particular priority order.

Adequate Division II under the All Other Costs line and Energy, which also includes transportation adjustments. 

Adequate Division I, Division II and Division III funding to accommodate all necessary positions.  Specifically, funding should be adjusted to provide for all state authorized, non-administrative professional positions (nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, counselors) and ancillary positions (IT positions, additional secretaries for increased data collection and reporting).

Support additional allocations for the purposes of increased security in Delaware public schools.  Increase security and climate funding, giving the districts flexibility in decisions on these issues.  This funding includes additional resource officers, behaviorists, alternative program development and implementation, and building security upgrades.

No unfunded or under-funded mandates.

Support adjustments in the Major Capital Improvement funding.  Specific support is requested to give districts the ability to levy a match tax for market pressure allocation and to permit market pressure allocations to apply to renovations of schools as well as new construction.

Approved by the DSBA Legislative Committee 09/26/07
Adopted by the DSBA Board of Directors  10/10/07
 

The Delaware School Boards Association believes that for all children to become successful, they must be provided with accountable, educational opportunities. With this belief comes our commitment to an accountability system that holds students accountable for knowing and performing skills that are critical to their success but also holds adults accountable to provide appropriately for these opportunities. In order to accomplish these goals, it is important that adequate and appropriate resources are provided to the schools, in terms of finances, personnel and supplies. We are sensitive to the fiscal issues that the State of Delaware is facing in the foreseeable future and have worked to have our priorities reflect not only our needs but what is feasible. We are aware that a few of these priorities will take more than this year to accomplish.

We believe, therefore, that the following legislative priorities are important for FY '09.

1. Adequate Division II under the All Other Costs line and Energy, which also includes transportation adjustments.

During the past decade, the school districts have been encouraged to reduce class size, to provide for additional special programs, and provide space for additional staff.  Many districts have built additional schools and classrooms.  Many other classrooms and buildings have been altered for air conditioning.  After school programs and additional summer school programs have been mandated in the past five years.  Evening programs have been added for students and adult education.  The energy formula has been increased in recent years.  DSBA is grateful for the additional funding.  However, the increase did not completely meet the increased costs of energy in the district buildings. 

Additionally, the funding formula for energy is based on the unit counts in the districts.  It has not been revisited in recent years.  As the districts have built new schools and added classrooms to existing building in order to accommodate smaller class sizes and reconfiguration of grade levels within the schools, the energy needs have changed.  DSBA would like to see a review of the Division II Energy formula to reflect the needs of the buildings rather than the unit count.

During the past few years, the cost of fuel for bus transportation has also increased dramatically.  There have been initiatives to expand choice options and mandates to provide extended time for school days.  The cost of transportation for these initiatives has not been  adequately increased, creating additional expenditures of local funds at the expense of other local initiatives.

2. Adequate Division I, Division II and Division III funding to accommodate all necessary positions.  Specifically, funding should be adjusted to provide for all state authorized, non-administrative professional positions (nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, counselors) and ancillary positions (IT positions, additional secretaries for increased data collection and reporting).

The current system of funding for Delaware education leaves some poorer districts at a disadvantage.  In some districts, the additional local costs of mandated programs have created significant budgetary crises. There have also been decreases in federal and state funding that have further eroded local discretion of local funds.  Adjustments in the Division III funding are not able to offset these difficulties.  In the past two years, application of the Division III funding has resulted in the five poorest districts initially having their Division III funding reduced.  While the Legislature has provided a "hold harmless" opportunity for these districts in the past two years, this doe snot adequately address the issue, which has reached a critical state for some districts. 

DSBA would like to see the local public school districts given additional flexibility, similar to the flexibility that is afforded charter schools, in teh use of current operating funds.

The current Division I structure was designed to allocate unit funding for core classrooms.  However, the other mandated curricula and support positions, such as music, art, technology, physical education, and guidance counselors, must be derived from the core unit counts.  Nurses are mandated in every school, yet the funding for those nurses is derived from the unit count and many districts are required to utilize local funds to meet the mandate.  In addition to these positions, the need to hire IT positions to support increasing technology needs and additional secretaries to complete mandated data collection and reporting has added to the drain of local funds.  DSBA requests that the Division I funding formula be reconsidered to fund all teaching and necessary support positions rather than units as they are allocated now. 

Additionally, DSBA feels that a discussion regarding reassessment of property values should be addressed.  There currently exists a disparity among the counties in the rate and manner in which property values are assessed and taxed that creates a disparity in teh local school taxing efforts for the districts.  These issues and alternative solutions should be studied.

3. Support additional allocations for the purposes of increased security in Delaware public schools. Increase security and climate funding, giving the districts flexibility in decisions on these issues.  This funding includes additional resource officers, behaviorists, alternative program development and implementation, and building security upgrades.

Security within our schools is a critically important issue.  Many of our buildings need to be fitted with additional security measures.  Some of the security measures may include cameras, doors, or card readers, as necessary in the districts.  School Resource Officers have proven to be valuable liaisons for our students, providing guidance and deterring behavior that could jeopardize the safety within our schools.  The funding for these resource officers must be increased to continue their valuable work.  We are also requesting increases in alternative education and behavior intervention funds to continue our support of students in need of behavior and classroom alternatives in order that they will become successful.

4. No unfunded or under-funded mandates.

When any legislative body mandates educational expectations, they should also be accountable for providing the resources to accomplish those expectations.  The Delaware General Assembly has recently, for the most part, been very responsible in this regard.  However, there are some areas where the cost of implementation of the Accountability Act exceeds the funds provided by the State.  The costs this year of implementing the federal law, No Child Left Behind, is creating increased financial burdens for the local districts.  The school boards recognize and appreciate the additional professional supports that have been initiated by the State.  However, the local share of those mandates has created diminished discretion of local funds for school districts.  In some situations, school districts have had to cut or eliminate local initiatives, which were approved through the referendum process in order to meet the costs of state and federal mandates.  DSBA urges that all mandates be fully funded.

As stated before, nurses are mandated to be assigned to every school.  However, the funding for these nurses are allocated by district enrollment.  DSBA urges that the funding for school nurses be adequately funded to meet the language of the mandate in the code.

5. Support adjustments in the Major Capital Improvement funding.  Specific support is requested to give districts the ability to levy a match tax for market pressure allocation and to permit market pressure allocations to apply to renovations of  schools as well as new construction.

The funding formula for square footage allowances for school building construction should be reviewed again.  The costs for construction supplies have risen dramatically since September, 2001.  Some adjustments have been made recently, following some recommendations of the DOE School Construction Committee.  However, these adjustments are still not sufficient given the rapid changes in costs of school construction projects from initiation to completion. 

There are a number of building projects currently under construction in the school districts.  Many of these projects are finding it difficult to meet the proposed budgets.  When a school district begins a building project, it takes approximately four years from the time that the budget is developed for referendum purposes to completion of the project.  The issues of inflation and soaring construction costs have meant that plans have had to be changed.  Less costly and less durable construction materials and techniques have had to be substituted for those originally specified.  DSBA requests that market pressure adjustments for current school construction projects be addressed again this year. 

DSBA requests that all consideration of market pressure adjustments include both new school building construction and additions and renovation projects. 

Additionally, DSBA is specifically requesting that the local school boards be given the authority to levy market pressure matching funds for current projects without having to go to referendum.  DSBA is grateful that the districts will have the ability to include market pressure funding language in future referenda.  However, there are many projects under construction now that will require a match of local funds to receive the market pressure funds. 

Approved by the DSBA Legislative Committee 09/26/07
Adopted by the DSBA Board of Directors 10/10/07

sfrancis@edsba.org