School finances have changed little despite walkout, officials say
The Oklahoma teacher walkout has been hailed as a historic victory for education and credited for raising public awareness of the state’s revenue problems. But what did it change for school districts’ finances?
Superintendents and chief financial officers say not much.
Districts will receive about $50 million statewide — $33 million for textbooks and $17 million for operations. Depending on the district’s size, they project they’ll see increased funding to the tune of a few million or a few hundred thousand dollars — not enough to materially change their already strained finances.
“It’s not going to be enough for our circumstances. Now we can say that we’ve received some funding, but not enough to make an impact, to be able to really support the programs we have,” said Nolberto Delgadillo, chief financial officer for Tulsa Public Schools. “Even though enrollment is declining, we’re still not funded to the level we’d like to see to be able to maintain programs.”
Some districts plan to use their reserve funds to stave off cuts, and TPS is among them. Other local districts could use what they project to be a small influx of cash to hire back teachers for positions that went dark over the past decade.
The uncertainty about the new funding’s impact is also coupled with concern from school districts, advocacy organizations and lawmakers about the future of those dollars. The referendum petition effort underway to repeal the tax increases that are projected pay for the teacher and support staff raises as well as the increased operational dollars has some worried.
“To pay for the raises — both support and certified — just them by themselves, it increased our expense unbelievably and they’re large enough that without the additional state funding that comes with it, hopefully, we’d be in deep trouble,” said Lance West, Collinsville Public Schools superintendent.
What dollars are districts getting
School funding will increase by well more than $50 million for the next school year — about $422 million new dollars will enter the school funding formula, according to the state Department of Education. However, most of that new money is already earmarked for funding the key success of teachers’ recent activism: the teacher and support staff pay increases.
“$17 million is a very small percentage when you consider the $2.2 billion education budget,” said Matt Holder, deputy superintendent of finance and federal programs at the Oklahoma state Department of Education. “There’s still a need to increase the operational dollars across the state.”
Holder did note that the $33 million for textbooks hasn’t been funded in the two past fiscal years. He said that increased textbook money could free up more dollars to go elsewhere.
Holder said it doesn’t surprise him that districts are using their reserve funds.
“Most districts have been very frugal over the last few years because the budget has been so unstable. We’ve taken midterm cuts over the last three years,” said Holder. “Many of them have been working to maintain and build those carry-over balances up to take that into consideration.”
On the evening of April 2, the first day of the teacher walkout, the Tulsa school board and administration worked to fulfill a promise Superintendent Deborah Gist had made months before: they wouldn’t cut any more teaching positions despite a worsening financial situation.
“Unlike the last two years, I will not recommend reductions in teaching, school-based, or district office positions as the response to state budget cuts,” said Gist in a December letter to staff days before it would lose about $2.6 million in funding. “While we cannot see the future with certainty, and unforeseen catastrophes can strike, I intend to do everything conceivably possible to honor this commitment to you.”
And on April 2, the board approved the 2018-19 school year staffing plan — one that essentially holds staffing constant.
To maintain staffing levels, the district plans to use its reserve funds — known as the fund balance — to pay for it, which is something Delgadillo describes as not sustainable in the long-run.
Union Public Schools, another one of the state’s largest districts, anticipates getting about $1 million total in combined textbook and operational funding.
“For Union, this equates to $760,000 for textbooks and about $240,000 that we would use for bringing back teaching positions. At this time, we have authorized bringing back eight teaching positions, mainly in special education,” said Union Chief Financial Officer Trish Williams.
Union, like Tulsa, also saw a cut in state aid this past year. It received $449,000 less than it was projected to when the year began in August, something for which the district had budgeted, Williams said.
A cut is something that Sapulpa Public Schools finance director Kenda Terrones also budgeted for last year. Sapulpa saw a $536,500 drop in state aid this past year.
Terrones said the new funding will amount to about $250,000 for operations beyond what the district will receive from the state for pay raises.
She said the district could add positions or increase the amount of money given to principals for classroom spending, but deferred to the superintendent on how actually the money would be spent.
West compared budgeting for the next fiscal year to “chasing a ghost.”
“You’re going off estimates,” said West. “It’s so brand-new and it’s such a large amount, especially on the state aid side.”
It won’t stop Collinsville from replacing people who are leaving, West said.
“We’re kind of holding off on making gigantic personnel decisions. We’re replacing anybody that resigns right now. We are not cutting positions,” said West. “I don’t know how much new we are going to add right now.”
Referendum petition looms
West, like several other superintendents, also is concerned about prospect of losing funding at the ballot box. A group called Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite is seeking to give voters the chance to overturn the tax increases that passed to fund the teacher pay raise.
The reason for worry among superintendents is that for many districts, increased salaries means that they have to use more local revenue to help fund them and the state doesn’t pick up the whole tab.
The superintendents’ concern isn’t an isolated one. State Sen. Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, said this week that he thought the Oklahoma budget was a safe one but a successful referendum petition would have negative consequences.
“That would have a devastating impact,” Treat said, according to Oklahoma Watch.
The Oklahoma State School Boards Association has sent out a fact-sheet to districts, compiled by its attorneys, about what the potential impact of the referendum petition’s passage. The money projected to be collected under the tax increases heads to the state’s general fund, which means the petition’s passage could affect more than just education funding, the advocacy organization explained.
“For education, the veto (repeal) of HB 1010xx could mean an approximately $140 million cut to the FY19 appropriation,” said the fact-sheet from OSSBA. “A referendum petition also can target only certain sections of a bill. Also, in the event of a referendum petition, the legislature could act to supplement the budget to offset potential lost revenue.”
The state Department of Education, for its part, said it was too soon to say what the impact would be.
“Because no petition is filed and we’re uncertain of the provisions it may contain, it would be inappropriate to speculate,” said spokeswoman Steffie Corcoran.