NEBRASKA /A.P. NEWS
BILL CUTTING STATE SCHOOL AID AND REVAMPING DISTRIBUTION FORMULA ADVANCED
By John Axtell
Mar 28, 2008 - 8:30:46 AM

The legislature has trimmed another $11-million dollars from the planned increase in school aid for the coming year, and has give 28-12 second-round approval to a major overhaul of the state's formula for distributing school aid.

LB-988 was amended with a provision to phase-in sharp cuts to school districts in sparsely populated areas, and Education Committee Chairman Ron Raikes...who drafted the bill...emphasized state aid will still go up next year, just not as much as first planned.

The increase for next year is now set at about $62-million dollars...about half the amount planned before the state's revenue project was sharply reduced last month.

That's still about an 8% increase, but the changes in the formula mean some districts will actually be getting more aid than first expected while others will get less than they got this year.

Both the cut in state aid and the revamped formula drew sharp criticism from Senator Annette Dubas of Fullerton. Dubas says she doesn't understand why there have to be losers among school districts or why lawmakers are "looking at balancing the state budget on the backs of our children."

Supporters of LB-988 say it will more-closely tailor the distribution of dollars to the needs of individual school districts, but the original version resulted in sharp reductions for small schools in sparsely populated areas of the state.

The amended measure gives more than 60 school districts in sparsely-populated areas more state money than under the original, but the vast majority would still get less state money than this year. About 75 districts would collect less aid under the amended version than under the first.




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