Senate sees changing
face of school support
SCHOOLS from page 4
“By and large it is our mess, not the
mess of children sitting in our class
rooms,” she said during first-round
debate.
But before the bill passed, it ran into
a veto from Gov. Mike Johanns. The
$22 million - later determined to be
about $19.3 million - posed competi
tion for his proposed direct property tax
rebate program.
Johanns would have supported the
bill, though, if an amendment giving
the state more control over how much
state aid schools receive had passed.
That amendment, offered by
Kristensen, would have allowed the
Legislature to appropriate more or less
money than the amount certified by the
Department of Education.
Paraphrasing Johanns’ words, the
governor’s press secretary, Chris
Peterson, made an analogy.
“This is about who drives the bus,”
he said. “LB 149, as it is currently writ
ten, asks the governor and the
Legislature to take a seat on the bus
while the computer drives the bus.”
Senators who spoke in favor or
Kristensen’s amendment agreed. Their
fear was that state aid would be locked
into the budget.
After the Legislature voted to over
ride his veto March 23, he said LB 149
would not provide predictability and
stability - two buzz words used by both
Johanns and Bohlke during months of
debate.
“It just simply doesn’t,” Johanns
said. “Stability won’t be there.”
But John Deegan, superintendent
of Bellevue Public Schools, said stabil
ity should depend now on state govern
ment’s support and not on changing the
formula.
“If the Legislature does not contin
ue to support state aid, you’ll see prop
erty tax issues rise again,” he said. “It’s
all based on how much they’re going to
fix the problem.”
Bellevue would have received
about $300,000 less in state aid for the
if LB149 had not passed. With its pas
sage, according to Department of
Education numbers, Bellevue lost an
additional $422,749.
But Deegan said the school
received more federal dollars, offset
ting the state aid loss.
“The system worked the way it was
supposed to,” he said. Schools that have
more resources should not receive as
much state aid, he said.
But Jerry Phillips, superintendent
of Petersburg Public Schools, dis
agreed.
Before LB806 passed, he said,
Petersburg had received about
$245,000 a year in state aid. When
LB806 passed, that number jumped to
$615,232 for 1998-1999.
Had LB 149 not passed, Petersburg
would have received only $89,239 for
1999-2000. But even with its passage, it
will receive only $110,553. Phillips
said Department of Education officials
have told him that if his school’s enroll
ment remains around 60 students, the
school will receive between $100,000
and $150,000 a year.
To help make up the difference, he
said, a guidance counselor is opting for
early retirement, the school did not
renew a contract with a Spanish teacher
it shares with another district and the
school will use the music teacher as a
guidance counselor. Phillips himself is
leaving so the school can save $25,000
by hiring a part-time superintendent.
In addition, citizens voted for levy
override. The school can go over the
$1.10 limit by 43 cents, he said.
The board also went through the
school’s budget, he said, and slashed
spending on furniture, equipment, sup
plies, books, computers, software and
other items. All told, he said, the budget
reduced by $247,000 in personnel and
expenses.
“You can’t say the reductions aren’t
going to affect things,” Phillips said.
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