DNP New big school law transcript DNP

By NewsPress Now

DEAN VAN SCHOIACK

Okay, so, Dean, he told me in your message yesterday that the items funded in the education bill that was recently signed into law are not sustainable, or at least not in but not not wholly sustainable. Can you elaborate on that? What are you specifically talking about there?

Well, it’s nearly a $500 million bill that we’ve passed here. And if we should run short of funds in Missouri, then something’s going to have to be cut. And typically, when cuts are made, its education budget gets cut first. And so we’re looking at adding not only to the foundation for that we have now bang another $500 million on that with this bill.

Is, is money that is not in the budget right now?

This is going to have to be budgeted for the next year, and then for future years to come. And estimate is not therefore that that’s why I’m worried about that. We’re getting schools money now. But they may not be there in the future, but they’re having to base their expenditures on that may have been there. I had had had almost school districts, well, nearly all my school district contacted me and said, We don’t want this. It’s not good for us. I had homeschoolers contact me and say, We don’t want it. I didn’t have one constituent contact me and say vote for this bill. I say don’t vote for it.

So at the end of the day, then they are getting money now. But but because they have to kind of plan for the future. That’s what gives them anxiety is because they cannot. I mean, you know, in an ideal world, maybe they could count on the legislature to give them money in the future. But they can’t guarantee that there’s no guarantee there, there’s no when does when did do they?

Are they in a situation where they’re potentially, you know, without those funds as early as next year?

It possible that that could be I think, probably a couple years down the line, but it could be as early as next year, depending on what the state economy does this year.

Okay. And so the funds that are that are made available to them now is that basically, you know, grant funding to help to meet the $40,000 minimum and other costs are, how does it all work?

Well, yeah, there’s grants tell me to help the mate to $40,000. Minimum, and that has to be appropriate every year. We’ve also expanded to charter schools, and to Boone County, that’s the first time we’ve put charter schools where we did not have unaccredited schools. So that opens the rest of the state up for possibility for charter schools, for Buchanan, green, Cape Gerardo counties, and potentially the whole state eventually, by doing that, so we’ve got a lot of things going on here this bill, it was they tried to sell, there’s something for everybody. But there’s also something in there for everybody to dislike as well.

And yeah, you find it’s just more more more things in there to disliked and the lack and then therefore, you voted No

Exactly. Right.

Okay. So what you know, it’s obviously signed into law. In a way we I’m sure there’s kind of like water under the bridge. It’s something we have to move forward from this point. How do we move forward from this point? And what situation are your local schools? And do you think?

Well, we first of all, we hope that the economy does well, first of all, second of all, we have to depend on the legislature to appropriate those funds each and every year as we go along. And if that happens, the school should be in decent shape. If it doesn’t happen, we’re going to have problems.

You know, do you think that maybe when the legislature revisits this issue, it would be prudent to put in some kind of permanent structure to make sure the schools are taken care of or what what do you think there?

Well, then that’s, then that’s a question because you see, we can’t bind a future legislature to do something. We really can’t do that. We can say we do this should be done. It’s just like foundation for and busing formula. Bus. It was funded about 75% for a long time, we’re at 100% now on it, but it could be cut back to 75% by future legislature, we can’t mine another legislature on doing something they don’t want to do.

So it’s just

Okay, God, I’m gathering that now. Okay. Is there anything else to be able to know about the bill that is relevant or that will impact them? You know, from an education perspective?

Well, it is the governor has signed it into law so it will become effective August 28. Lesser, I think there may have been emergency clause the one part I can’t remember if there was or not, but we will deal with it and make the best of it and try to make it work the best we can gain. Thank you very much. Thank you, Marcus.

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DANNY JOHNSON

Okay, we have now turned on the app and our recording, just to make sure that no mistakes are made. Please state your name.

Danny Johnson, Superintendent King City r1.

Okay, Danny Johnson comments, darling? Um, those? Yes. Okay. And how long have you been superintendent?

I am concluding my 10th year here.

Okay. And are you originally from the area from somewhere else?

I grew up in Richmond.

Okay. And were you a teacher prior to that point, or

I taught 10 years. And then I’ve been an administrator for 19. So I’ve been a high school principal, an elementary principal, and a principal advocate for a couple of years. And then the last 10 years, obviously, here King City.

Okay. So, as we were kind of discussing, you know, I have done a little bit of a review of this legislation from definitely an expert point of view, I’m kind of relying on when people were telling me about it. But I gathered that establishes a couple of core changes, probably the top line, one being the new, the new permanent teacher, minimum of $40,000 per year for a full time teacher in a school district in Missouri. And then it also makes a number of investments in education and other ways that I have heard from local legislators, among others, that, you know, could be a financial concern for lower tax base districts. What are your thoughts on this overall?

Well, overall, I mean, I think $40,000, for a minimum starting salary is is a good is a good point. It does have a growth factor in there. So they’ll expect that that minimum to grow by $1,000. For the next for the following years. The problem that I I am concerned about is, as the pool of money potentially dries up in Jefferson City, is there going to be money to continue to fund these raises? Or are we going to see a decrease in our transportation payments? Will we see other programs eliminated in an effort to be able to pay for that? So you know, it’s not going to help a teacher if, say, in my district scenario, they’re going to get a raise of $3,000 for the next school year. But are you going to turn around and eliminate career ladder, which was a newly resurrected program that had died off several years ago, and someone saw the value in it, they brought it back and said, Hey, let’s pay them pay teachers for the extra time that they’re spending with kids? And so are we going to give it to them on their salary, but take away this other? Well, if that’s what happens, you know, that is, that’s a scenario in which you know, that you don’t really gain anything. Now, there’s, there’s no promise that career ladders going anywhere. But we all know that, that the pie is only so big, the money will only go so far, there are other entities within the state who have needs and wants as well as schools do. And at some point, you know, you’re probably going to struggle to continue to fund all of this. So, you know, there, there is money also out there to provide tax credits for, for people to get scholarships to send their kids to private schools, I mean, that’s going to lower, that’s going to lower the amount of money that’s available in the in the state coffers, to fund things to fund programs. So that’s a that’s a problem. And it’s an avenue that’s being created. And that, you know, is troublesome. And I think on one hand, you know, they threw the money, legislators threw the money on the salaries as a way to say, look what we’re doing. But on the backside of it, we’re doing it to ensure that a small pocket of people also have access to get their kids into private schools through a through a credit voucher program. So that’s, that’s troubling. And, you know, and I know of a scenario in which, you know, some people who voted against it were, you know, were made out to be bad people, because, oh, you voted against teachers.

Well, no, they didn’t vote against teachers. They voted against a bill that was 167 pages long, and that probably isn’t fully vetted. And so when it’s all said and done in the in the next week, Two or three months, the attorneys are going to pull pick that apart, and they’re going to analyze that, and then they’re going to disseminate that information to us. And then we’re going to continue to see you, we’re gonna have to interpret sometimes ourselves on what the meaning of that is. I mean, I’m not a big omnibus fan. So if the bill if, if teacher salaries, increasing them was what they wanted, then they should have had a standalone bill, that wasn’t tied to a bunch of other things. But, you know, we’re gonna say, well, we can’t pass anything, if we don’t bunch everything together. Well, if it’s not, you know, if we can’t pass it, then let’s just not pass it. That’s just my that’s just my two cents.

I think it makes sense to me. So, with the with the bill now passed and signed into law, you know, what, what, what is your understanding of, of how it might affect the financial future of your district in particular?

Well, so I’m a hold harmless school. So I receive a small schools grant allocation, so that that amount of money is supposed to be doubled. So in theory, I should be able to expect an extra 115 $220,000 a year because of that, that money being doubled. But and that’s it that was in the original bill. But as any legislator will tell you in future years, if that money’s not there, then we’re going to have to reverse course on that. So you, you’ve told me, Hey, I’m gonna get an extra allotment of money. And that’s great. But if things dry up, or things get tight, and then you take it away, well, you’ve just created a law in which I’m required to raise salaries. But you’re not you may, in the future, take away a funding source. So from the standpoint fiscally, I mean, there are some gains there. There’s also the the continued rise of proxy money and proxy money is tied to sales tax. Well, you know, there’s a lot of conflicting indicators out there with the economy, which some people would say, Are we near a fiscal cliff, where the economy is going to move in a different direction, and things are going to tighten up, you know, food prices are not going down. Gasoline is, you know, it’s not as cheap as it was probably this time a year ago. But it’s it’s not escalating out of control at the moment, but that can change rather quickly, also. So the economy is a big unknown. And so if people are, you know, forced to quit making purchases, that, you know, there dries up a portion of proxy money, and, and then that money is not being, you know, it’s not there to be distributed because it wasn’t collected in in the way of taxes.

So is it fair to sum that up? It’s kind of like, we’re beyond this this first year? We’re, it’s a question of uncertainty. You just don’t know what’s going on?

Yes, absolutely. And, you know, ironically, so we pass a bill in May of 2024. That won’t, the better part of it, fiscally won’t take part or won’t, won’t begin until July one of 2025. So a lot of things can happen in those 14 months in terms of the economy. And, you know, now, you know, some of the well, the Republican Party, I think, would say, hey, we left a 1.5 billion in the coffers for a rainy day fund. And that’s great. But you know, as you well know, even 1,000,000,005 can go rather quickly. If if if thing creates in an incredible drag on the on the budget.

Okay. So probably the last question I can ask you is, you know, with this bill having been passed and signed new laws, it is kind of a matter of cats out of the bag. I mean, right, it means the time, the time for making changes probably was a couple of months ago. But nevertheless, what can be done now to kind of make the situation better than what it is?

Um, you know, well, you know, from the superintendents chair, I mean, we always have to expect the unexpected, and I think many of my colleagues would, you know, would look at this from a very troubled perspective, because, you know, in my case, going from getting the 40,000 means I’ve got that 3000 of my my base. If I’m a district that’s minimum is 330 3000. They’ve got add seven And so there’s a lot of pressure that is going to be placed on some smaller districts, budgets. So I think one things we’re going to have to look at is, you know, is there any fat in our budgets that can be cut? And that’s something that, that we’re going to have to the places are gonna have to look at, you know, are there are there things that we can get by without? I think we have to continue to have an open dialogue with our legislators, we’ve got to explain to them that, hey, you know, I understand you guys put this in place. But please understand that, you know, you’re you’re putting a lot of, you’re putting some unknowns on us some pressures. So I think the dialogue is going to be important. But, you know, as I alluded to earlier, and I always ask, we haven’t we have a meeting with legislators, and every year I asked, you know, you know, try to move away from an omnibus, you know, quit quit putting so many things on here. So I’m looking right now, at a synopsis of, of the bill. And it you know, it alludes to a voucher program expansion, charter school expansion, combination of enrollment and attendance funding, small schools, Grant local effort, and merchants and manufacturers tax, early childhood education, school calendar, minimum teacher salary, teacher retention and recruitment. I mean, there’s a whole lot of things inside of this bill that is just going to take a lot of work to fully understand and determine, you know, how it’s going to impact each dc district, because it’s going to impact us all a little differently.

Okay. Well, thank you very much for taking the time to explain all that to me. Would you be able to send me a copy of that synopsis is when they were looking at the same stuff?

Yeah, yeah. I don’t have it. I’ll forward it to you. What is your email?

My email is Marcus Mar CEUs. Dot Clem, CL E. M as in Mike. So Marcus Clem at News Press. now.com is progress. All right. Sounds good. All right. Thanks for your time. Yep, thank you.