Student losses, virtual funding could cost local schools greatly

Monday, August 17, 2020

With all four Putnam County school corporations beginning the year with fewer students than 2019-20, the added hit of reduced funding for virtual students would make for even larger budget shortfalls.

If counts of in-person and virtual students as of late last week were taken, county schools would stand to lose a combined $644,755 in state funding.

However, these shortfalls could be lessened if the State Board of Education delays fall count of student enrollment, commonly known as the Average Daily Membership, as Gov. Eric Holcomb requested recently.

The problem Holcomb and other officials are trying to avoid is that by state statute, students who receive 50 percent or more of their instruction virtually receive only 85-percent funding from the state.

While this would cause a huge problem for schools elsewhere in the state that have started completely virtually in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it would also potentially cause problems for the four Putnam County schools.

As of late last week, each corporation’s in-person students as compared to virtual students were as follows:

• Cloverdale: 823 in-person, 74 virtual;

• Greencastle: 1,469 in-person, 269 virtual;

• North Putnam: 1,166 in-person, 97 virtual;

• South Putnam: 956 in-person; 85 virtual.

The loss of 15 percent of funding per virtual student would mean a loss of $71,884 for Cloverdale, $255,980 for Greencastle, $90,123 for North Putnam and $77,813 for South Putnam.

Add to this that each school is down in enrollment as compared to last school year — 35 fewer students at Cloverdale, 19 fewer at Greencastle, 55 fewer at North Putnam and 27 fewer at South Putnam.

This means that total funding losses would be $163,352 at Cloverdale, $91,882 at Greencastle, $268,679 at North Putnam and $120,842 at South Putnam.

(It should be noted that due to a small increase in per-student funding and Greencastle suffering only a modest loss of 19 students, its funding would actually be up if not for virtual funding losses.)

While all of these numbers are only preliminary, they still signal a troubling trend for local school corporations.

This is what state leaders say they hope to avoid, as Holcomb, Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R-Martinsville) and House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) made clear late last week.

“I have asked the State Board of Education to exercise this statutory authority to secure full funding to schools,” Holcomb said. “There has been a great deal of conversation around school funding in the last five days. It is clear that Speaker Huston and Pro Tem Bray share my commitment to fund schools to the full extent during this uncertain and unprecedented time.”

The hope is that more students will be attending in person by the chosen count day. While this may be the case, it still leaves questions unanswered for school administrators.

Cloverdale Supt. Greg Linton, Greencastle Supt. Jeff Gibboney, North Putnam Supt. Nicole Singer and South Putnam Supt. Bruce Bernhardt released a joint statement about the matter on Friday.

“If the count day is delayed until December, schools would potentially be operating on ADM estimates made last spring just as COVID was hitting,” the superintendents said. “While schools traditionally estimate low, I’m not sure any of us could have anticipated the actual impact to this fall. This means schools would be receiving ADM dollars based on a spring count through January or February when counts would be finalized. At which point a settlement comes in February or March, likely, where the DOE will take back, over a series of a few months, any overpayments made in previous months.”

It’s this settlement period that could be especially troubling to local schools.

“Even if this is spread out over several months, it is a huge impact to second semester funding,” local officials said. “And, will a second count day occur on Feb. 1, 2021 as scheduled which could further impact funding if ADM losses are realized?”

It also only delays dealing with the 85-percent funding issue, a point raised by Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick.

“IDOE staff is in the process of reviewing for its potential financial benefits and consequences,” McCormick said. “This delay is just that — a delay. Hoosier schools deserve a solution to secure 100 percent funding as districts are bargaining, budgeting and preparing for the next 18 months.”

However, Sen. Bray, who represents the southern part of Putnam County as part of his district, said the goal is for this issue to be addressed by the General Assembly in 2021.

“This provision of the law (IC 20-43-6-3) requires that students receiving 50 percent or more of their education virtually are currently funded at a lower level than students receiving their education in the school building,”Bray said. “This law predates the COVID-19 pandemic and is automatic without some action to address its application under current circumstances. We believe that the State Board of Education has the authority under existing law to adjust schools’ student count date to allow schools to receive 100 percent of their per-student funding. In the next legislative session, the General Assembly can take a fresh look at these statutes in light of the pandemic to ensure schools are adequately funded.”

In the meantime, school administrators have not only the stress of dealing with educating students during the pandemic, but doing so without a clear idea of what state funding will look like in 2020-21 and beyond.

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  • Delay the count....school corporations shouldn’t lose funding due to a health pandemic, which is out of their control.

    -- Posted by kbmom on Tue, Aug 18, 2020, at 11:27 AM
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