Forbidden Topics of Discussion

Sex, religion, politics, money. Conventional wisdom tells us that some topics are considered impolite. Not fit for public conversation. School finance falls in the money category, but here goes...
Let’s talk about your money in your schools. YOUR money. The money you send to the state in the form of taxes. The money that supposedly the state will do a better job of allocating to schools than you will.
First you need to know about Mr. Combs. Not a state employee, he is your Marietta City Schools Treasurer. He is hired to watch over the money you entrust to schools. Very good at his job. He has a hard time speaking in generalities less accurate than two decimal points.
Each new school board member is given a finance briefing by Mr. Combs. We refer to that briefing as a trip to Uncle Dave’s Woodshed. It’s intense, lengthy and, but for Dave’s very pleasant personality, not enjoyable.
Much of the woody issue of school financing is split by Mr. Combs’ sharp axe. Many truths revealed. The myth about the amount of money the state actually sends to your school district is one of the first to fall.
Your legislators speak of the per pupil support from the state as being $5,565. You will hear them say it is quite a lot of money, and surely local districts should be able to provide a top quality education for that many dollars. The legislators are doing a good job with your money. Ha!
There is a formula the state uses to calculate the actual dollar figure districts receive per student. The short version which Mr. Combs walked us through again just a couple weeks ago is nearly two single spaced pages out of over 23 actual pages of formula that makes doing your income tax seem like child’s play.
It begins with the amount they say we get, $5,565, and ends with the amount we actually receive, $1894. Quite a difference, eh? That’s what we think. (The amount varies by district quite complexly.)
But it gets worse. If a new student comes to our district from outside the state, we receive the $1,894. But if that student comes from a neighboring district, known as an “open enrollment” student, we receive the full $5,565. Not bad.
Here’s the bad part. If we have a student leave our district and go to a neighboring district as an open enrollment student, we must send the full $5,565 to the new district. Sort of like religion, it is impolite to ask why. It’s just the way it is. Part of the state formula.
Oh, and guess where the difference between the $1894 the state sends us and the $5,565 we must send to the other district comes from. Uh huh. You. Your local tax dollars follow that student to his new district. All $3,754 of YOUR money, every year he is an open enrollment student.
Last year we were net exporters of dollars to other districts. We sent out $592,000 and we took in $373,000. A drain of $219,000.
There are many reasons why students choose to attend other districts which we will discuss in future articles. Perceived quality of education is only one of those reasons, but it is one over which we have some control. It is our intent to provide a top quality education that will attract open enrollment students.
After local print media publication, you may view this and other information on our blog at:
http://mariettacityschoolboard.blogspot.com