As one of the “education think-tank types” who attended and commented at yesterday’s pre-meeting of the interim committee on school finance, I am reservedly hopeful that some effective and transformative changes may result from the committee’s work. Meanwhile, realism dictates that not every one of the “stakeholders” who appeared yesterday will be happy.

What did puzzle me a little bit is why we saw no representatives from the charter school and/or online school world  share their concerns. I won’t go further into speculation than to express my hopes that they speak up and provide some sort of contribution at a future meeting.

When I got my chance to speak, I opted to promote two key principles that should be incorporated into the process of redesigning school finance: detailed financial transparency and weighted student funding (WSF). As the Fordham Institute crew points out, other states are engaged in major debates about the future of school funding — and lays out the evidence for WSF as a promising major facet of reform.

Along these same lines, I look forward to the soon-to-be-published work on a revamped school funding system from our local friends at the Center for Education Policy Analysis.

There were many issues brought forward yesterday, and I don’t have time to rehash them all. But a couple that I am rooting for:

• As discussed by Senator Keith King, phasing out the poor incentive of funding “phantom students” through declining enrollment formulas; and
• As brought forward by the Colorado Children’s Campaign, getting rid of the October 1 count date as the enrollment basis for funding formulas

Because there won’t be enough money to sate the wish lists, it is indeed “time to think outside the box”. The talk of streamlining measured funding inputs and heightening the emphasis on the Colorado Growth Model and related academic outputs is one very promising avenue. Additionally, smart investments in transformative technologies could pay huge dividends in the future, addressing concerns for both sustainability and efficiency.

Hope springs eternal. So while at least six meetings of the interim school finance committee lie ahead over the coming months, at this moment there is hope for a new, more flexible, more transparent, more efficient, more equitable, and more student-friendly school finance system in Colorado.

Popularity: 1% [?]