Easing Federal and State Regulations

By Sandra Crandall

The federal government is fully committed to maintaining its influence in education. The Federal Government can be a cheerleader for education as it holds high expectations for all aspects of education. However, much of what the federal government does is at the expense of local control.

One of the most prominent examples is in the area of special education. The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has mandates. To carry out many of these mandates, money is needed. The federal government's intent was to fund these mandates at 40% of the cost. In reality, they only fund at 17%. The additional 23% of the costs of these mandates come from the our school district's general fund the same budget used to educate the rest of the student population. Local control of the school board over the entire budget is lessened as fewer funds are available in the general fund. The federal government needs to fully fund special education mandates or release the mandates.

State government, to their credit, has given some slight and one time relief. They have allowed certain monies to be transferred to other funds at the discretion of local school districts. As long as the funding challenge continues, this flexibility needs to be maintained, expanded and made permanent.

Redundancy of services, at times, is prevented from being addressed because of labor codes, education codes or state regulations. If, for example, the city and the school district are struggling and each governmental entity is providing a particular service, conversations should take place, common sense should prevail and regulations should be eased or eliminated for mutual benefit.

Focus should be placed on spending scant education dollars where they matter most. Efficient government needs to exist and local school boards need to be able to make the decisions on budgetary matters without undo regulations, codes, and laws interfering. Those who are most familiar with the challenges being faced should be able to take the lead in deciding where monies should be spent to solve them.

With the strong public support our school district enjoys, we need to assert our leadership role as a School Board. When we win the battle of ideas with the public, the politicians will follow.