Friday News Roundup: Week of July 23-27

Missouri public school aid formula facing $700 million shortfall

Texas financial aid program to fall well short of need

Board vote means $300 million less for Texas schools

Missouri public school aid formula facing $700 million shortfall
Missouri public schools, assured that they will receive a set per-pupil amount each year from state and local funding, will instead collect about $250 million less than the full funding amount in the current 2013 fiscal year. By fiscal year 2014, the shortfall is expected to grow to about $700 million.  That’s because the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education was supposed to increase the per-pupil funding target to $6,423 in 2013, but instead froze the target at $6,131 because of ongoing state economic concerns. The target is set to rise again next year to $6,716, but the Department has not yet decided whether it will freeze the target again. In fiscal year 2013, the Missouri legislature provided more than $3 billion for elementary and secondary public education. More here…

Texas financial aid program to fall well short of need
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board voted this week to request $580.8 million in fiscal years 2014 and 2015 for the state’s main financial aid program, Texas Grants, from the legislature. That’s a $21.2 million increase from the previous 2012-2013 biennial budget, paid for by transferring money from other grant or loan programs. Still, it won’t be enough to fully fund the program; full funding would total $1.4 billion. Lawmakers haven’t provided full funding for the program since 2004; although they have allocated more money every year since, the number of eligible students has risen more rapidly. As it is, about half of eligible freshmen will likely receive the grants. More here…

Louisiana school officials face aid freeze challenges
For the fourth consecutive year, state aid to Louisiana public schools will be frozen. The state funding that will remain stagnant is meant to support faculty salaries, costs of classroom resources like textbooks, and other issues. The only exception will be an increase in money due to higher enrollment, but although the total will increase, per-pupil enrollment will remain the same as in the previous three years. The fiscal year 2013 budget totals $3.4 billion and covers about 700,000 public school students. Three years of frozen budgets have forced layoffs, deferred salary increases, transfers from school districts’ rainy day funds, and cuts to transportation and other services. Earlier this year, voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase, dedicated in part to technology costs in schools and to cover the costs of state-required foreign language instruction in elementary schools, which will help to defray the effects of the stagnant spending. More here…

Board vote means $300 million less for Texas schools
Public schools in Texas were expected to see $5.4 billion in cuts to public education over fiscal years 2012 and 2013 until a legislator, Rep. Rob Orr (R-Burleson), proposed a constitutional amendment that would pour another $300 million into schools. The amendment passed both chambers of the legislature and as a referendum in last year’s elections. But now the School Land Board, the group authorized by the amendment to disburse the new money, has decided to save the funds rather than distribute the money to schools. That means legislators left a $300 million hole in last year’s two-year budget – expecting it to be filled with the newly-authorized funds – and schools are now stuck without the additional money in 2013. The money is only a small share of the $34 billion schools will receive for the 2012 and 2013 school years, but coupled with $2.3 billion in deferred payments to schools and a $3.9 billion Medicaid shortfall, could affect schools’ budgets. More here…