STATEHOUSE-Rep. Woody Burton (R-Greenwood) and his House Republican colleagues offered support today for more flexible funding for schools, and disagreed with House Democrats' education bill that would suspend important school reform, discourage student testing and allow fund transfers with no restrictions. The bill passed by a party line vote, 51-48.

"I opposed this bill because it would have a detrimental effect on students," said Rep. Burton. "I will continue to work this session for legislation allowing schools more flexibility in their funding options so that they will not have to lay off teachers. Unfortunately, House Bill 1367 provides fewer options for parents and students in the area of school choice and jeopardizes several important testing programs currently in place.

"Overall, the bill would take away the tools students need to prepare for post-secondary education by potentially eliminating state assistance for the PSAT test."

The PSAT test must be taken by a student in order to qualify as a National Merit scholar.

Some details concerning House Bill 1367:

The bill suspends important school reform initiatives by delaying the School Scholarship Tax Credit from tax year 2010 to tax year 2012.

The bill also delays the implementation of the Virtual Charter School Pilot Program, which is already in operation for the current school year. The current program is serving 126 students and has many other students on a waiting list.

The bill discourages student testing by requiring schools to suspend a number of "nonessential" tests-defined as those not required by federal law in order¬¬-- to achieve a reduction in testing expenditures by 5 percent in the 2010/2011 school year and 10 percent in the 2011/2012 school year.

Those tests include K-2 diagnostic tests, 3-8 acuity tests, CORE 40 end of course assessments, PSAT testing (crucial for National Merit Scholarship) and ISTEP social studies testing.

The bill allows fund transfers with NO restrictions. The bill establishes the Instructional Services Restoration Grant Program to provide additional funds to schools to "preserve and protect" instructional programs and teacher salaries.

However, the grant's funds are derived from the following sources for the 2010/2011 school year:

$500K from the appropriation to DOE used for the ACT/SAT test preparation program in FY 2011.

$717K from the appropriation to DOE used for the PSAT testing program in FY 2011.

$2.5M originally set aside for the School Scholarship Tax Credit program.

$876K originally appropriated to the Virtual Charter School Pilot Program in the 2010/2011 school year and half of the 2011/2012 school year.

In total, the Instructional Services Restoration Grant Program would net schools statewide about $4.6M for the 2010/2011 school year. This equates to about $4.61 per student for the 2010/2011 school year.

"Is it worth it to delay valuable school reform initiatives and end important test preparation programs just to net an extra $4.61 per student?" said Rep. Burton.

"I believe in supporting the idea of flexibility during tough economic times. I support looking into certain administrative costs and the costs for sports and recreation. I am not suggesting doing away with them, but we need to make cuts without cutting education and without cutting teachers."

House Bill 1367 will now head to the Senate for further consideration.

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