COMMITTEE
HCS HB 1135 & 991 -- SCHOOL FUNDING
SPONSOR: Stoll (Luetkenhaus)
COMMITTEE ACTION: Voted "do pass" by the Committee on
Education-Elementary and Secondary by a vote of 22 to 0.
In the definition of operating levy for school purposes, the
substitute removes the current language that describes the
adjustment to the calculation of a school district's entitlement
so that decreases in the levy due to reassessment do not cause
decreases in state aid and provides a formula, before
equalization, for the computation of the calculated levy.
Currently, a school district that enacts or increases a
voluntary rollback is not allowed to use a calculated levy; the
substitute removes this restriction. Instead of recalculating
the calculated levy every year, the substitute makes each
calculated levy's add-on cumulative, beginning with the 1995 tax
year. A proviso that eliminates the calculated levy when an
actual current operating levy exceeds the calculated levy rate
is removed.
The substitute also reopens a window for transfers to the
capital projects fund from the teachers' and incidental funds.
Currently these transfers must have been completed by June 30,
1995; the bill changes that date to June 30, 1999, clarifying
that the transfer limit is an amount equal to or less than the
amount by which the unrestricted fund balances on June 30, 1995,
exceeded 8% of expenditures.
FISCAL NOTE: Not available at time of printing.
PROPONENTS: Supporters of HB 1135 say the calculated levy from
SB 795 was intended to keep districts from losing aid due to
lowered levies resulting from reassessment. The statute as
currently written has a technical hitch that can result in a
district increasing its levy but not realizing all the benefit
from the increase in its school aid. An example is the Ft.
Zumwalt School District, which passed a 54-cent Prop C waiver in
the same year as reassessment, lost its calculated levy, and
therefore realized only 39 cents of its waiver. The bill also
has specific language on how to calculate the levy, which the
current statute does not have; the formula should enable
districts to determine their own financial status without having
to rely on the help of the Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education.
Supporters of HB 991 say the one-time reopening of the window
for transfers to the capital projects fund provides an
opportunity for districts to use money that is, in essence,
stuck in the teachers and incidental fund without a current
legitimate way to move it. For districts that made conservative
fiscal decisions in 1995, the bill will enable them to move any
remaining funds that they could have moved in 1995.
Testifying for HB 1135 were Representative Luetkenhaus; Ft.
Zumwalt School District; Missouri Council of School
Administrators; and Cooperating School Districts of Greater
Kansas City.
Testifying for HB 991 were Representative Froelker; Gasconade
County R-II School District; Gasconade County R-I; Missouri
State Teachers Association; and Missouri Council of School
Administrators.
OPPONENTS: There was no opposition voiced to the committee.
Becky DeNeve, Legislative Analyst