Should SBA stay or should it go now? That is the question.

Minneapolis school board members will be deciding soon-–June 23––whether to love SBA or leave it, as they make a final vote on the school district’s budget for next year.

Wait. What? What is SBA?

SBA is short for “Student-Based Allocations.” Simply put, it is a fresh new way to carve up a school district’s pot of money by:

• First, giving every kid in the district a “base” per pupil funding amount and
• Second, adding more funding on to that base amount, according to a student’s level of need.

Example: kids who qualify for free and reduced lunch would bring a certain extra amount of money with them to school, as would kids learning English, or homeless kids, or even “advanced learners.” All of this “extra” money could only be used to address the specific need it was targeted for, meaning funds spliced out for, say, advanced kids could only be used to…advance them further, I guess, via special classes or an extra tutor. 

What these exact categories are and how much they will be “worth” have yet to be decided by MPS admin–although they’ve been trying to sell SBA as the next great thing for over a year now–making it tough to know exactly what SBA is or will look like. 

Kids who don’t fit into any of these extra categories would just receive the basic, per pupil funding amount. But this amount, for every kid in MPS, will be lowered under SBA, because that is where the money for the “extra categories” will come from. There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, sadly.

Does this make sense? No? I didn’t think so. Let me turn things over to MPS parent and budget guru Gwen Spurgat, who has been tracking MPS’ awkward unfurling of SBA for a year now.

Here are some of Gwen’s questions and conclusions about SBA:

SBA is an ALEC tool

• SBA is a funding allocation model based on ALEC’s Student-Centered Funding Act, which is basically a school voucher scheme, where public education dollars “follow” students from school to school. If a student (consumer, in ALEC’s world) decides he or she does not like their school, they can just pull out and take their money to another school, creating instability and, possibly, leaving our most vulnerable students behind. 
• This model is a cookie cutter approach which funds each school with a BASE amount for each student, and then gives more money to individual students, depending on their needs.

Sounds great, but…

• While I know we can do better in need-based funding for our students, a major shift like SBA is not needed because Minneapolis already allocates funds to students based on their needs. 
• Example: One recent board presentation showed the difference in budgets for two schools of similar enrollment numbers but with very different student populations:  Lucy Laney, the high needs school, receives twice the funding as Lake Harriet, a basic needs school. This is because money already “follows” the student, via federal, state, and district-level funding.
•  In fact, “Minnesota as a state has an A rating for equitable funding, with only 4 other states,” according to school finance expert Bruce Baker’s National Report Card.
• Even Reason, a free-market focused organization advocating for the new SBA/weighted student funding structure, already gave MPS one of their highest ratings (based on the district’s support of the ALEC authored bill .
• So…MPS already does student-based funding. As it should.

This new SBA model will not be an effective solution:

• This new model does not promise MORE money for our schools. Instead, it is simply a way to carve up what our schools are already receiving. This makes this SBA model a way to redistribute inadequate resources. Nothing more, nothing less.
• The redistribution would look like this: Every student (regardless of need) would have his or her BASE funding amount reduced in order to allow MPS to carve up the funding pot in new ways. So, if all students in MPS currently carry a $4,000 BASE per-pupil amount with them (this is just an approximate number), in order to free up funds for SBA, every student’s BASE funding amount will have to be reduced. 
• Although it has been tough to get clear and specific info regarding SBA from the district, the BASE funding amount that MPS has published is nearly $1000 less per student than some schools currently get! This will force class sizes of 43-47 at Lake Harriet, and as well as at Hale/Field, Burroughs, Kenny and several other schools (because there won’t be enough per-pupil funding to pay for enough teachers to keep class sizes reasonable).
• But because the BASE funding is reduced, even our high needs schools will see reductions in core classroom teachers.

Let me repeat: even schools that gain funding in SBA will lose basic education dollars while getting more dollars for their students with higher needs.

For instance, Lyndale Elementary School in south Minneapolis,  with a population of 71 percent kids in poverty, could lose funding for almost 2 full-time teachers under SBA. BUT, they would “gain” 4.0 teachers who are not general classroom teachers but instead work with students on specific needs (special ed, English language). This means class sizes at Lyndale could certainly rise.

And Marcy Open School in southeast Minneapolis, with a 47 percent poverty rate, could afford 3.2 fewer regular ed teachers, but pay for 1.7 more teachers for their students’ needs. This means letting go of classroom teachers (and increasing class sizes for all) and instead hiring teachers who can only work in specific areas. This is because SBA funds MUST be used ONLY on the specific need, and not on general classroom/school needs.

Class Size:

• Under SBA, class sizes of 43-47 could occur in some MPS schools, causing a drop in both public schools enrollment and families choosing to stay in the city.
• MPS is requesting a Referendum in November. Currently, the district’s referendum–at $65.8 million–is more than 12% of MPS’ budget. I believe the chances of the November referendum passing are slim if class sizes seem like they could rise to above 40 in some city schools.
• Also, the class sizes at schools that lose funding in SBA will be hit harder than it appears.  For example Roosevelt High would lose 6.2 regular classroom teachers under SBA, but gain 3.8 special ed or English language teachers for their students with needs.
• Lake Harriet Upper would be down 4.8 classroom teachers but be able to afford 1 more teacher for ELL and .5 position for our Special Ed students.  Hale stands to lose 5.5 regular ed teachers and gain 1.2 for their specific needs students.
• So, in order to justify SBA and the redistribution of student funding, ALL students will lose out, and class sizes at some schools could rise to a clearly unacceptable point. Can we afford to send more families packing from MPS?