In news from the Nebraska Council of School Administrators, the Education Committee of the State Legislature is considering five changes to the State Aid formula.
1. Reducing the Basic Allowable Growth Rate from 2.5% to 1.5%.
2. Increasing the local effort rate from $1.00 to $1.025.
3. Eliminating the teacher education and instructional Time Allowance.
4. Eliminating duplication between the poverty and summer school.
5. Using the savings from the local choice adjustment for reorganization incentives.
Estimated state aid under the current law is $685,466 for next year. This year it was $708,171.
Estimated state aid with new changes is $489,895, a total loss of $218,276. The biggest loss is the instructional time allowance. B-R has approximately 1260 instructional hours per year K-12. Schools have qualified for the extra money by being above the state hours in instructional time.
The Instructional Time Allowance is one thing that schools can qualify for if they choose to do so. And it benefits students. Too bad the Education Committee picks this to eliminate, rather than going after something like the averaging adjustment- state aid that goes to big schools.
