The education funding formula developed by the RI Dept. of Education (RIDE) (previous coverage) was officially introduced in the RI house today (download bill pdf), and the bill appears to track closely to the information previously released by RIDE, including the head-scratching per-pupil figure of $8,295, with the one bright spot being that it would not take effect until the 2011 school year. Update: Reader pointed out that the bill refers to fiscal year 2011, not school year — i.e., the budget year that ENDS June 30, 2011. There is no bright spot. If this passes unmodified, stick a fork in us. We're done. Thanks JD for the tip.

One feature repeatedly promised by Comm. Gist was conspicuously absent: any modification of S3050 to assist "overfunded" districts like Portsmouth facing cuts of around $250K/year. Here's the relevant text:

A community that has a local appropriation insufficient to fund the basic education program pursuant to the regulations described in this section and all other approved programs shared by the state and required in law shall be required to increase its local appropriation in accordance with section 44-5-2 or find efficiencies in other non-education programs to provide sufficient funding to support the public schools.
— p5, lines 3-7. (emphasis mine)

We — Portsmouth — is going to take a quarter-million dollar hit in 2011, and unless there is a supermajority vote by the Council to override the cap, we're going to be looking for "efficiencies."

You can read that euphemism however you like. But it ain't gonna be pretty.

Oh, and take a guess who sponsored the bill? The representative from the district which will receive a 189% increase. Here's the press release:

Hearn cosponsors statewide education aid formula

STATE HOUSE – Saying education aid from the state must be equitable, predictable and reflect the needs of students and their communities, Rep. Joy Hearn is cosponsoring legislation developed by the Department of Education to enact a statewide formula that will determine each school district’s state funding.

The legislation (2010-H 8094), which was introduced today by House Finance Chairman Steven M. Costantino, would put an end to Rhode Island’s status as the only state without a statewide education funding formula, where state aid is usually based on the previous year’s amount and does not reflect changes in districts’ student populations and needs. The lack of a formula played a role in Rhode Island’s failed bid to win the first round of federal Race to the Top funding in March.

“School funding is far too important for the state to be apportioning it arbitrarily or politically. Rhode Island has limited funding. We aren’t spending it wisely if we aren’t carefully sending it where the students and the needs are today. This formula will help the state get the most value for its education dollar while finally treating students equitably,” said Representative Hearn (D-Dist. 66, Barrington, East Providence), who has pushed for the formula throughout her freshman term in the General Assembly.

The formula, which was developed with assistance from education experts at Brown University, is based on an estimate of basic education costs, currently set at $8,295 per pupil. For low-income students, who tend to have more expensive educational needs, the cost is figured at $11,600 each. The formula takes into account the actual number of students in those populations in each district, and adjusts the total by the community’s ability to pay, which is based on its tax base, low-income population and other wealth factors. The legislation phases in the formula over a decade.

Both Barrington and East Providence stand to gain under the formula. Barrington’s state aid would increase by 189 percent, from $1.99 million to $5.76 million. East Providence would go from $25 million to nearly $28.7 million. Representative Hearn said the sizes of those increases reflect the extent to which each district has been underfunded for years by a system that lacks any connection to the conditions that exist in each district, or to changes in each district’s student population. According to school officials, Barrington has received about $500 per student from the state this year, while other districts nearby received more than 10 times that amount.

Education Commissioner Deborah Gist has said she believes Rhode Island could afford to provide excellent education to its students at the current total amount it is providing in state aid – about $860 million a year – but only if it uses the formula to ensure that the money is spent where it’s needed.

That, of course, will mean some communities, like those in Representative Hearn’s district, will gain and others will lose funding. But, as Commissioner Gist said when she brought the proposal before the Board of Regents, there are already winners and losers when the state distributes aid. The formula will impart fairness upon the distribution process. And because the changes would be phased in slowly, the adjustments would be gradual.

“To focus on which communities get more and which get less is missing the point of the formula, which is to make sure students have the opportunity to get the education they need no matter where in the state they happen to live,” said Representative Hearn.
— GA press release

Full disclosure: I am a strong supporter of a fair funding formula, but it needs to be implemented in a way which does not throw our school finances into chaos.