1) LB806 is a state aid formula that rewards efficient schools isn't it?
No. LB806 largely rewards only certain selected areas. For example, the statewide dropout rate, an excellent indicator of educational success and efficiency, is less than 3%. Omaha Public Schools with a 7.3% drop out rate is nevertheless to be heavily rewarded under LB806. LB806 does not reward the efficient schools at all. It is seen as a manifesto of the political power and will of the metropolitan areas that seemingly dominate the 49 members of the Nebraska one-house legislature. 14 of the 49 state senators are from the Omaha metro, and 7 more from the Lincoln primary area. Those 21 plus just a few more along the interstate can operate the legislature as a virtual hostage. LB806 seems to reward those in power, and a few others who were willing to agree with them, regardless of the needs of schoolchildren statewide.
2) LB806 has a "sparsity" factor that helps rural schoolchildren based on geographic location doesn't it?
Not really. There are 286,462 public school students in Nebraska; the LB806 law was skewed in such a fashion as to allow only 12,122 students in the Sparse Grouping, and 4,001 in Very Sparse. That is only 5.8% of the students in the state, an impossibly low figure for a state as large and thinly populated as Nebraska. As many as 30% of all students in Nebraska are regarded as being in sparsely populated areas, not 5.8%. Furthermore, under LB806 the big Class A schools, with the worst drop-out rates in the state, get an average of 104% of the money they need to operate. The small Class D schools, largely serving rural and sparse areas, in many cases get less than 80% of the money needed to support their programs. In the Class D2 category only 14% of the pupils attend schools that will receive sufficient funding to maintain their programs at present levels. At the same time, 75% or more of the pupils attending big Class A schools will receive 100% or more of the needed funds. Geographic location of a school is just not an accurate indicator of funding needs, especially when the factors are written unfavorably.
3) LB806 and the companion LB806A added more than $100 million in new state aid didn't they?
For only one year LB806A adds more than $100 million, largely said to be going to more influential areas according to published data. However, according to the Nebraska Department of Revenue, LB1114 took away more than $200 million in property tax support from schoolchildren, and the legislature was reportedly already more than $100 million behind in supporting the previous school aid formula. An ongoing $300+ million shortfall is not made up by the addition of $100 million for only one year.
4) But doesn't Nebraska have an overly expensive educational system that needs to be overhauled?
No. According to nationally published figures, per pupil expenditures in Nebraska ranked 32nd among all states. Average teacher salaries in Nebraska ranked 38th. Many say that property taxes are high simply because the Nebraska legislature devotes only 16.5% of their budget from sales and income tax to K-12 education, ranking 41st out of all states. Most states send over 20%, several over 30%, to lower local property taxes.
6) In order to reduce costs LB806 targeted only the higher cost schools for less aid didn't it?
In general, only if the school was in a low population area it appears. LB806 does not examine school costs in the metro area at all, instead allowing them to report an artificially low "average blend " cost of all their schools. Rural schools on the other hand are required to report costs individually. Money cut from rural schoolchildren can then be sent to the already expensive metro schools to bring up their "average" even further, as well as support their large bureaucracies.
7) Aren't there too many school districts in Nebraska, adding to state educational inefficiencies?
Not really. In efforts to gain better education, many states are granting Charter School status to schools similar to rural Nebraska areas where schools are also a self governing "district" with site based management and local control by unpaid boards of education. This is thought to be on the top edge of educational excellence. The expensive education bureaucracies are in the larger cities, where it is noted that Lincoln lists more than 200 persons below the rank of Superintendent yet above the principals of each Lincoln school. By contrast, the cost of an average Class D school superintendent/principal is reportedly much less than the cost of a single school principal in the metro area. The $957 average per pupil state aid sent to the smallest Nebraska school districts (Class 1's) is far less than the average $1,547 per pupil state aid sent to the metro district, or the apparent Class A average of $1,534 per pupil.
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