Pub. 8 2018-2019 Issue 2

8 T he f i rst week of the Legi s lature’s 2019 General Session is over, and the Legislature is moving quickly. While news media reports that state tax collections have created large ongoing and one-time budget surpluses, legislators are nervous that those collec- tions will not endure. Instead, they worry that a significant portion of those surpluses will evaporate if/when the economy slows. To avoid having to make future cuts in ongoing spending, like the WPU, the Legislature has already set aside large por- tions of these surpluses in the state’s rainy day funds. They are also using ongoing revenue streams to pay for one-time projects; if ongoing revenue streams recede, in future years they can reallocate that ongoing money to support the WPU. That being said, the Legislature remains committed to increasing public education spending. The message around the Capitol suggests they will increase the value of the WPU by about 2.5% to 3%. In addition, they are very much interested in driving significant ongoing and one-time education dollars through the Teacher and Student Success Account (TSSA). They like that mechanism because the principal or director at individual schools decide how to use money from the TSSA. In district world, that mechanism will be novel, but nearly all charter schools already leave budget authority at the school level. In other words, in charter land TSSA dollars will look remarkably similar, if not identical to a WPU increase. UAPCS’ largest legislative effort focuses on bringing greater equity into the local replacement fund (LRF). Because the Legislature adjourns several months before school districts adopt their budgets, the formula for the LRF uses several variables from two years prior. Specifically, the LRF amount for FY 19 used assessed valuations from FY 17. When the Legislature passed SB 38 several years ago, we tried to eliminate this two-year gap, but we ran out of time. Over the past couple of years, we have looked at how best to overcome that, and we are pleased to bring a solution to the BY ROYCE VAN TASSELL, UAPCS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Kicking off the 2019 Legislative Session