Schools dodge aid cut; numbers still a puzzle

Officials with St. Mary Parish Schools avoided trouble when they decided not to rely on a type of state aid that was subsequently cut.

But question marks remain about how much school aid St. Mary can expect from the cash-strapped state government.

The aid is Minimum Foundation Program supplemental funding, which provided $44 million to schools statewide in 2015-16.

For 2016-17, the Legislature cut that funding by $24 million.

“We went through the MFP numbers that they gave us before we put the budget in place,” St. Mary Superintendent Leonard Armato said, “not knowing what they might do with the $44 million outside of the MFP funding.

“So, instead of us budgeting for the $44 million, we budgeted totally without it. That way, if they left it out of the budget, we wouldn’t have to go back to make adjustments to the budget.”

The state aid picture remains murky.

State Superintendent John White sent a financial breakdown Tuesday to local school districts in a newsletter. It included MFP allocations for 2016-17, but specifics for supplemental funding are not clear.

“We don’t have a definitive number right now,” St. Mary Assistant Superintendent Teresa Bagwell said. “We’ve got the generalized allocation, but a lot of components of the MFP have to be applied for.

“It’s the smaller numbers that we really don’t have definitive numbers on right now.”

For example, the district receives money for career development. In order to receive the money, districts have to apply for it.

“I mean, you’re going to get the allocation,” Bagwell said. “It’s just how much of it you’re not assured of right now.”

The state will allocate $46.8 million to St. Mary schools for fiscal year 2016-17, according to the state superintendent’s newsletter. The St. Mary Parish per-pupil amount is $5,391.

This amount includes state allocations to other public schools, prior year decrease adjustments, and Levels 1 to 4 funding with continuation of prior year pay raises.

St. Mary allocation deductions include $82,802 to Louisiana Virtual Charter Academy and $108,724 for Louisiana Connections Academy. The total amount is $191,526. Both are online public schools.

The total prior year adjustment is a deduction of $55,038. It includes fiscal year 2013-14 end of the year and Feb. 2015 mid-year.

Levels 1 through 4 are:

Level 1 — State and local base cost per pupil.

Level 2 — Eligible local revenue.

Level 3 — Legislative allocations.

Level 4 — Supplemental funding.

“The Legislature voted to restrict the $44 million and part of that was money used to pay teacher supplements,” Bagwell said. “By restricting that, it left the district to financially support that continuation.”

During June’s budget meeting, Chief Financial Officer Alton Perry “mentioned that we incorporate that into the salary scale rather than giving that as a separate check,” Bagwell said. “So, it’s not a supplemental check teachers would get.”

The board included the salary step as part of teachers’ salaries. The money comes out of the general fund expenditures instead of being supported by the MFP allocation.

The district also receives state money based on local taxes.

“A local revenue support system plays into MFP as well,” Bagwell said. “And the fact that our local revenue has declined, the MFP sees that as a favorable light, unfortunately.

“We might get more money for MFP but it’s not going to equal out with what you would’ve gained through local revenues if it were maintained.”

Student enrollment is a question mark. The 10-year trend points to a loss of 150 maximum per school year.

“Honestly, we’re uneasy about what the student enrollment figure is going to look like this year,” Bagwell said. “We normally predict, when we budget, the declining student enrollment.

“Based on the 10-year trend, you see we lose between 100 to 150 kids a year. So we can budget that we’re going to lose 150 kids each year. But what if we lose 200? What if we lose 250? Then that’s going to be a problem, as well as a budget factor.”

The official count for students and MFP allocations is the enrollment as of Oct. 1.

“Right now, you get a prediction based on student enrollment for Feb. 1,” Bagwell said. “But once the Oct. 1 head count comes in, that’s when you really know.”

Both superintendent and assistant superintendent are satisfied with some of the financial decisions made to ease budgetary concerns moving forward into a new school year. And planning without the expectation of additional funding helped, too.

“We really thought that wasn’t going to be added back into the MFP,” Bagwell said. “So, the fact that $20 million of it was actually filtered back in is a help.”