School district to charge certain students
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January 15, 2014 |
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." |
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