But the tenants of the plan offered deserve attention from lawmakers before they convene the general session in two months. Enhancing teacher compensation. Changing the method of funding special education. Increasing funding of the existing formula. Linking K-12 funding to accountability and providing incentives.
Reviews are mixed.
But there is consensus that lawmakers must address the funding formula in an era of declining enrollments. While numbers fall in most of the state's school districts, cost continue to rise. The most reasonable recommendation by the task force would allocate nearly half a million dollars to fund a study to define the hallmarks of a suitable education and determine the cost in achieving one. That would give educators and lawmakers a meaningful blueprint to reform a funding formula that appears to have past its usefulness.