by Tad Johnson
Thisweek Newspapers

Carter Christie hopes the one concept that survives discussion about the governorís education finance task forceís report is the state needs to determine and fully fund the true cost to educate a student.

ìThereís urgency,î said the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District business manager Tuesday after the report was released July 9. ìSchool districts are struggling right now and something ought to be done. Ö Pilot projects need to be started now.î

The task forceís report details how the state should determine the cost per student, taking into account the ìrelevant characteristics of students,î said Christie, who has 30 years experience in education finance.

Students who donít speak English, live in poverty, have disabilities, or move from one school to the next each require special teaching. Often the additional cost to educate these students is not factored into the current funding formula.

For example, the task force says minority student populations require additional staff resources to minimize their achievement gap.

That gap is significant in Minnesota. The stateís graduation rate for white students is 87 percent, compared to 43 percent for black students, according to the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy Research.

The stateís education funding formula, based on a 1971 framework, has long been targeted for reform. While it has undergone several changes through the years, itís now viewed as too cumbersome. It includes 1,000 lines of funding calculations to determine a school districtís revenues.

Christie said he was disappointed that the urgency of the issue wasnít emphasized enough in the report. With school districts facing a third consecutive year of a frozen per pupil unit revenue from the state, he said it should be obvious why schools are struggling financially.

The task force recommended further study of the cost of educating students through research and analysis of pilot programs where ìrelevant characteristics of studentsî are present.

Those characteristics will continue to change in Minnesota, considering the percentage of students raised in poverty has increased from 25.8 percent in 2000-01 to 28.2 percent in 2003-04, and the percentage of students with limited English proficiency increased from 2.75 percent in 1994-95 to 6.15 percent in 2002-03.

Another recommendation Christie hoped would be considered is funds coming to school districts with fewer restrictions.

This would afford districts the ability to address their unique needs, from declining enrollment as in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District, to a rapid rise in minority populations, as in St. Paul.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty didnít set a timeline for consideration of changes based on the report. Christie speculated the governorís office would develop proposals and have them considered during the 2005 legislative session.

Tad Johnson is at editor.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.

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