School district to charge certain students |
| January 15, 2014 |
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The Boundary County School Board on Tuesday made
a decision they didn't like, based on a state
school funding law passed in October that they
not only disagree with but question its
legality, and in so doing hurt a select few who
they agree are good neighbors who are a benefit
to our county. Last October, with little fanfare and no input from school boards in North Idaho, the Idaho legislature passed a measure in Idaho education funding law that excludes from average daily attendance funding any student enrolled in Idaho public schools those students who are "residents" in any state licensed home or facility providing education and care to any out of state student who attend a public school. In Boundary County, that ruling stripped more than $80,000 from the school district's annual budget with no warning for the dozen or so students who live in homes that provide social and other services to "troubled" youth from across the nation who, most often as an incentive, are privileged to be allowed to attend Boundary County public schools, both for academics, sports and for the opportunity of being part of something for which they can be proud. Over the years, such local residential services have sent many of their charges to Boundary County public schools, many of whom excelled and who are proud to call themselves Badgers. The new state law doesn't recognize them as students, thus removes them from the state funding formula, leaving it up to the districts whether to assume the lost revenue or to charge the private programs a fee for each student they have enrolled to recoup the loss. The board of Boundary County School District 101, sans vice chairman David Brinkman, who runs just such a program with his Brinkman House, questioned the legality of the new law from the outset, and rather than imposing a $500 plus fee on such facilities, per student, per month, in response to a rule it only learned after the school year started, and well after those programs affected had set fees, accepted client students and placed them in local public schools, delayed a decision until the beginning of the second semester to give owners of those programs time to make adjustments. On Tuesday evening, the board, decrying the need to do so and encouraging those affected to challenge the law, reluctantly voted to impose a fee to those facilities to recoup a portion, but not all, of the state funding lost to the district from the state's ruling not to count those students as students. "I hate that we've been placed in such a position by a state ruling that I think violates the Idaho Constitution," board member Mike Weland said, "but until and unless the law is overturned, we're left with little choice. I don't like the idea of putting the full burden of the cost on these programs, but we have to do something." In the end, the board voted to bill the programs $400 per month per student, with the amount prorated to account for months when classes are not in session for the full month. "I hate that we are being forced to do this," Weland said, "and look forward to when we can end it when this law is overturned or struck down." |