Eric Carter

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EDUCATION

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OVERVIEW

Quality education in the Blue Valley and Olathe schools continues to be an absolute top priority. The citizens of the 48th House District have consistently demonstrated a commitment to education, and Eric Carter carries that commitment with him to the Legislature. To maintain and improve our schools, we must work to minimize classroom size, raise the salaries of highly-competent teachers, support special needs students, and provide adequate funding for key academic inputs such as the International Baccalaureate program. That's why Rep. Eric Carter's voting record demonstrates solid support of both the Blue Valley and Olathe School Districts' legislative agendas. In addition to supporting our schools at the legislative level, however, Eric Carter also recognizes the need to be attentive to all areas of needed improvement and further support.
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SCHOOL FINANCE

The Rooney Plan

On Thursday March 11, 2004, House Bill 2807, commonly referred to as "the Rooney Plan," (after the employee of the Shawnee Mission School District who devised the concept) was defeated on the House Floor. This bill was an alternative to the current school finance formula that is being challenge in the courts. Instead of having a complicated formula that has different weighting factors to help districts offset costs, the Rooney Plan attempted to simplify school finance. The formula would have created an equalizing effect among wealthier and poorer school districts by subsidizing the amount of revenue school districts generate from mil levies. I voted in favor of the Rooney plan -- as did most if not all Johnson County legislators -- but it failed to achieve the required number of votes.

The state would have looked at the statewide assessed property valuation per pupil. It would have then subsidized a district’s ability to generate revenue so it is equivalent to the 95th percentile of assessed value per pupil. Any district that had an assessed valuation per pupil above the 95th percentile would not have received any aid, but any district below that level would have received a portion of state aid so it is equal to the 95th percentile. If a school district would have experienced increased enrollment, the assessed valuation per pupil would have gone down, so the gap between their fund raising ability and the 95th percentile would have widened. As the gap widened, the state would have been required to pay a larger share so they were equivalent to the 95th percentile. If a school district experienced a decline in enrollment, the assessed valuation would have increased, so the state would have paid less.

The Rooney Plan guaranteed school districts they would have received the same funding they currently get from the state under the current formula. After the first year of implementation, schools would be allowed to raise their local taxes to accommodate their specific needs. However, if multiple districts raise local taxes and the state does not have the funds necessary to finance all of the increases, the school districts would only receive a proportional increase depending on how much funding is available.

Some legislators rejected the idea of changing the formula because they want the constitutionality of the current finance formula to be ruled on by the Kansas Supreme Court. If this plan was enacted, it would have made the current law suit moot, so it could not be decided by the court. Other legislators opposed the bill because is causes large problems with discrepancies as to how different districts could eventually end up being funded. There was also the concern that it would have overly burdened schools that lost students or experienced growth in the number of bilingual or at-risk students. Although they would have proportionally received the same funding as larger schools when the assessed valuation per pupil was artificially adjusted, they would have had disproportionate costs to educate their students. To avoid that, HB 2807 would have given districts in such a predicament grants to deal with the problem.

Those in favor of the legislation -- like myself -- championed the fact that it gave local control back to the localities. For years, districts have been required to take a one-plan-fits-all approach to fixing problems in education. Under Rooney, they would have had the authority and ability to fund programs they believed could have addressed their problems.

Although the school finance debate is not fully resolved, it did illustrate the difficulty the legislature faces when dealing with a school finance formula. Redrafting a school finance formula is a rather large undertaking that must be as inclusive as possible to meet the needs of a very diverse state.

The Governor's So-Called "Education First" Plan

The House - primarily along partisan lines - also rejected 71-44 the Governor's three-year plan to raise sales, income, and property taxes by $1.7 billion to fund public schools over the next five years. The House also rejected 67-45 the first year of the Governor's plan, funded with a 5 percent income tax surcharge and a 0.1 percent sales tax increase.

The proponents of a $1 billion tax increase for schools have introduced the Governor's Plan in both the House and Senate. It lays out $995.4 million in new spending but comes up short of paying for it by $15.5 million with "only" $979.9 million in tax increases. The tax increases, all of which would be permanently dedicated to school spending, are: 1) Permanently increase the sales tax to 6.3% from 5.3% ($347 million). 2) Permanently increase the 20 mil statewide property tax levy to 35 mils ($329 million). 3) Permanent 15% surtax on individual income tax ($293 million). 4) Permanent 15% surtax on corporate income tax ($11 million).

Currently, key features of the tax hike include:

· A 10 percent increase in the statewide property tax for public schools, raising the levy from 20-to-22 mills phased in over several years. The property tax would be raised over more than two years and the Kansas Supreme Court has already ruled it is only constitutional to set property tax rates for two years.

· A hike in income tax rates by 5 percent. This income tax surcharge is like the Oregon income tax hike surcharge that voters in that state rejected by almost 60 percent of the vote February 3, 2004.

· The last part of the governor's tax hike package would raise the state's sales tax to 5.7 percent. This would make our rate the highest in our five state region far exceeding the 5.5 percent rate in Nebraska. Nebraska's effective sales tax rate is lower since groceries are not taxed there. Kansas' current 5.3 percent sales tax already far exceeds the state rates in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Colorado which are all well below 5 percent. The current Kansas sales tax rate was temporarily set at 5.3 percent in 2002 and is scheduled under current law to phase back to 5.0 percent in July, 2005.

I voted with the Republican leadership against the Governor’s plan, which did not enjoy the support of Johnson County school districts and was opposed by the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce. "The Chamber believes the Governor’s proposal in SB 304 would allocate increased tax resources to an outdated finance formula that provides a low-rate of return to our local school districts. Projected benefits received in return under this plan are far below the increased tax burden that would be placed on business and residential taxpayers. The proposal also does not provide any additional measure for local funding control. Based on this, the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce does not support Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ Education First plan as currently written." -- D. Koenig, President, Overland Park Chamber of Commerce). Make no mistake, however -- this plan is by no means "dead".

House Republican Leadership Plan

The House Republican Leadership unveiled an education plan on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 that could increase funding to Kansas schools by over $90 million without increasing state taxes. The House Republican Education Plan increases state funding for at-risk students by $25.2 million bilingual students by $1.9 million and it provides $1 million for a Teacher Mentoring Program to help 1,000 new teachers each year to better prepare for the rigors of the classroom. Additionally, the plan calls for a Center for Innovated School Leadership to be established at Emporia State University that would become a resource for educators to learn how to better run their schools.

In addition to providing $28 million in new state dollars from existing resources to help fund programs aimed at addressing the "achievement gap," the House Republican Plan also gives schools local control to raise up to $63 million in additional funds. More expensive districts have the ability to locally fund $23.5 million to offset the costs of living, and all school districts would be able to locally fund up to $39.6 million for special education programs.

The House Republican Plan has adopted several of Governor Sebelius’ Education First Plan ideas, which has already been defeated by in both the House and the Senate, but it also has drastic differences. We match the amount of money she put towards at-risk students and we double the Governor’s increase in funding towards bilingual students. Unlike the Governor’s plan, our plan does not call for a $166.6 million statewide tax increase in the first year alone or a $462 million statewide tax increase each year once it is fully implemented. Also, the Governor’s plan does not address our most vulnerable students, those in special education programs. This plan was heard by the House Education Committee and passed out of committee on Friday, March 19, 2004.

One of the salient points of the House Republican plan is that it recognizes that dollars must get to the classroom, and therefore provides districts to raise taxes to increase teacher pay based on the district being a high-valuation area. Local boards of education would have the authority to eliminate that homestead exemption subject to a protest petition which would force a referendum. (The homestead exemption applies to the first $20,000 in valuation of a residential property. So, a $100,000 home gets an exemption of $20,000 and becomes, for tax purposes, an $80,000 home. A $20,000 home essentially disappears from liability for school property taxes.) School districts were never friendly to the homestead exemption, but they wanted the Legislature to do away with it, not force the decision back to local boards of education.

Under this plan, Blue Valley would be able to raise locally $4.8 million and Olathe $5.9 million. The local politics of this plan will be interesting to watch play out, however. Essentially, the Legislature would be permitting school districts to raise taxes, which could have the undesirable appearance of pitting schools against local property owners. While I believe that local control of not only spending - but also taxation - will drive greater accountability to taxpayers, it will interesting to see how this issue is received locally.

For more details on the House GOP school finance plan, please review this Powerpoint presentation: House Leadership education proposal.

Click here to read Judge Bullock's 2003 decision in the Montoy case.

ISSUES

Science Curriculum: Given that Rep. Carter earned his degree in Physical Sciences from Harvard University, where he studied astrophysics, geophysics, and human behavioral biology from some of the world's most noted scientists, it should come as no surprise that he favors a science curriculum that includes "the Big Bang" and Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
Spending: Eric Carter believes our school finance formula has yielded unanticipated -- and undesirable -- consequences in many districts around the state. Specifically, Rep. Carter fears the formula has led to too much emphasis being placed on capital projects (e.g., buildings and facilities) and too little emphasis being placed on what matters most -- the quality of the teacher, the student-teacher ratio, and the requisite materials in the classroom. Kansas ranks among the bottom 10 of all states in terms of the percentage of education dollars that actually make their way to the classroom. Resources must continue to be shifted away from the adminstrative level and towards the classroom if we are to be able to provide the very best possible education for our children.

Paid for by Kansans for Carter, Cheryl Mitchell, Treasurer.