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SPONSOR: |
Marquardt |
DATE TYPED: |
|
HB |
637 |
||
SHORT TITLE: |
Allow |
SB |
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ANALYST: |
L. Baca |
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APPROPRIATION
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
||
FY03 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY04 |
|
|
|
|
|
$62,000.0 See Narrative |
Recurring |
General
Fund |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Parenthesis
( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Conflicts with: HB 115, School Funding
Formula
HB
483,
Relates
to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act
Responses
Received From
State
Department of Education (SDE)
SUMMARY
Synopsis
of Bill
House Bill 637 amends
the Public School Finance Act ,
Significant
Issues
HB 637 removes the state’s ability to take
credit for federal revenue. Currently,
the state is allowed to take credit for 75% of a school district’s share of
Forest Reserve and federal Impact Aid receipts in determining state aid. The bill does not address the .5 mill
currently levied, and the state will continue to take credit for 75% of that
revenue.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
Unless the Legislature appropriates an amount
equal to the loss in credits, estimated by SDE at $62.0 million, school
districts will lose an equal amount in local operating funds.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
Until the early 1950’s, funding of public
schools was considered a local responsibility and financing their activities
relied almost solely on local resources.
At this point, according to the Education Commission of the States
(ECS), states became more actively involved in public school finance although
the use of state resources remained minimal in most states. State participation in funding public schools
increased following the early 1970’s Serrrano vs. Priest decision, which held
that the quality of a child’s education should not be determined by the accident
of his\her birth. This
Twenty years following the Serrano decision,
more than 25 states had been sued with the lawsuits claiming violations of
state constitutions that required uniform systems of public education. Not all states sued were found in violation
of state constitutions, but state support for public education has increased in
most of the nation’s 50 states as has public scrutiny to ensure minimal
disequalization among school districts – at least as much as each state’s constitution
and public sentiment will allow.
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
1.
Would enacting this bill lead to
inequality among the state’s public schools?
2.
What might P.L. 874 school districts do
with the additional funds if this bill were enacted?
3.
What would happen to the non-P.L. 874
districts?
4.
Would adopting this bill create legal or
constitutional issues for the state?
LRB/njw:yr