Required expenses burden schools

Sat., April 28, 2007

By Sara Leaming sarale@spokesman.com

doing the math

Required spending

Here are some of state, federal and local mandates on Brian Benzel's list, followed by the cost to Spokane schools:

Transportation - $1.6 million

Six-period days at the high school (state funds five periods) - $2.8 million

Substitute teachers – $1 million

Special education – $8.6 million

Bus driver annual training - $38,000

Programs for non-English speaking students – $1.5 million

Election costs – $300,000

Immunization record keeping – $35,400

Fire alarm inspections – $50,000

Fire extinguisher inspections – $6,000

Bus accident incident reporting, investigation and drug testing – $10,700

Asbestos abatement, annual training, plan and updates – $21,000

Public records requests (cost of research) – $25,000

Americans with Disabilities Act facility accommodations – $41,000

Annual affirmative action plans and reports – $5,000

Sexual harassment training - $5,000

OSHA mandatory training, documentation and plans – $51,100

Boiler testing – $9,500

Backflow testing - $10,000

State patrol background checks and fingerprinting for personnel – $37,000

Playground safety inspections – $20,300

Elevator inspections – $14,300

Fire hydrant testing – $2,400

Breakfast program, schools with more than 25 percent poverty – $15,000

Second health inspection for school kitchens – $10,000

Nutrition and fitness policy impact – $150,000

Annual weapons incident reporting – $5,000

For a complete list, http://www.spokaneschools.org and click on the link for the 2007-08 funding challenge

Spokane’s top educator says the district wouldn’t be dealing with a budget gap if the Legislature would provide enough money for everything it requires of schools.

Superintendent Brian Benzel’s list of inadequately funded items includes everything from special education and student transportation, to safety inspections for playground equipment and fire hydrant testing.

“Even though there are probably some things on that list that would be required by any other business or agency, and there’s probably a number of things that they would do anyway, I think the point is that there are funding concerns,” said Dan Steele, the director of governmental relations for the Washington State School Directors Association. “The money schools get from the Legislature automatically goes away to various things that are required. There is very little left in discretionary spending.”

For Spokane Public Schools, those federal, state and locally mandated items total more than $21 million paid out of voter-approved levy dollars. The levy typically pays for the extras that parents and students have come to expect, including sports and after-school programs.

On Wednesday the school board voted to close an elementary school and in the coming weeks will make other cuts to fill a projected gap of more than $10 million.

“We’re limited across the board as to how we can raise money for our programs,” Benzel said.

The Spokane schools chief and other education officials use the list as evidence that the state is not living up to its constitutional obligation to fund basic education.

As the legislative session came to a close last week and a budget was passed – it’s not yet been signed by the governor – the Legislature did little to assist schools with the taxing requirements, Benzel said. The budget includes $1.8 billion in new money for education, including implementing full-day kindergarten at five or more Spokane elementary schools, and funds to improve math and science achievement.

“It’s a difficult situation to not be grateful for the investment,” Benzel said at a recent school board meeting. “But our funding gap is not only the same, but bigger.”

Sen. Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, agreed there needs to be more unrestricted money for the K-12 system, but noted that the Legislature this session approved an increase of $896 per student. She also said that a bill is in the works to scrutinize the funding model for basic education.

Benzel has a list of 77 state, federal and local requirements that he says said aren’t paid in full. Some of them are:

“Programs for English language learners.

“Bus accident reporting.

“Drug testing for bus drivers.

“Sexual harassment training.

“Back-flow testing to make sure sewer water doesn’t end up in the drinking water.

“Costs associated with fingerprinting and background checks for staff.

“And annual reports of weapons confiscated at schools required by the state.

“I’m not advocating for guns on campus, it’s the reporting obligation” that creates additional administrative costs, he said.

But, Brown said, “There’s not many of those functions that we would actually back away from. It’s part of the complexity of large organizations.”

Rep. Glenn Anderson, R-Fall City, who sits on the House education committee, agreed those requirements are all legitimate.

But, he acknowledged, “the state tends to play the great school board in the sky. There’s a lot of little nickel and diming going on.”

Much of the autonomy that school boards expect is diluted by the education bills approved by the Legislature, he said.

Anderson said next session he’d like lawmakers to ask school superintendents for the “nuttiest” or “most ludicrous” mandates required of them, and get rid of those.

“We could just find the top 10 most ridiculous ones, and just repeal them,” Anderson said. “But as can be the case, getting people to agree what the top 10 most ludicrous ones are presents its own little challenge.”

“It’s not a question of being ridiculous,” said Mark Anderson, associate superintendent for school support services for Spokane. “It’s a matter of whether the mandates are not funded or are underfunded.”