On Thursday, February 20th the MFP Task Force met to determine a recommendation for the K-12 school funding formula.
The MFP Task Force is made up of many different educational stakeholders. There are representatives from the business lobby as well as schools and educators. We come together in February of each year to discuss our school’s financial needs and make a recommendation to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) about the MFP.
LFT’s representative on the Task Force is Legislative and Political Director Cynthia Posey and today, she fought back against attempts to limit school funding and raises. Over the last few weeks, LFT took your concerns to the Governor and today he showed he heard us. His team did propose funding for teacher raises. And ultimately, the Task Force came together to take a united step forward towards getting even more funding for schools, teachers, and supports staff.
The next test for teacher raises and school funding will come when the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) considers the Task Force’s recommendation. BESE is not required to follow the recommendation from the task force, but they must submit an MFP proposal to the legislature no later than March 15th.
The ultimate sum for our schools, teachers and support staff will depend on the REC’s revenue projections. The REC decides how much taxpayer money lawmakers are allowed to spend, but for the second year in a row this supposedly non-political process has been held up with partisan grandstanding. It is imperative that the REC pass the economists’ revenue projection now, so that BESE and the legislature have funding available to pay for raises and additional school funding. Tell the REC to recognize additional revenue before it's too late!
Click here to write a letter to the REC demanding that they do their job and pass a sensible revenue projection now!
Why Doesn't the MFP Task Force Just Ask for a $10,000 Raise?
The MFP Task Force is made up of many different educational stakeholders. There are representatives from LABI, A+PEL, Stand For Children, the School Boards Association, the Charter School Association, LAE, LFT and more. We come together in February of each year to discuss our school’s financial needs and make a recommendation to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) about the MFP.
There’s no doubt that our schools need a lot more money than they currently have – both for school district expenditures and teacher and school employee pay. So, some might think that the MFP task force should just ask for as much as possible – but the truth is, that could end up costing the teachers and school employees in this state a lot.
Once the MFP goes to the legislature, it’s fixed: the legislators can only vote it up or down. So, if the legislature thinks that the MFP that was submitted to them costs too much money, they can’t amend it, they can only send it back to BESE.
BESE then has the option to decide whether or not they want to change it, but too often, if the MFP is rejected by the legislature there simply isn’t enough time left in the legislative session for a new MFP to make it’s way through the process. Which means we revert back to last year’s spending levels and teachers/school employees get no raise whatsoever.
That’s why it is the responsibility of the Task Force to be strategic and measured when they recommend an MFP. If we ask for too much, we’ll likely walk away with nothing. But, if we develop a thoughtful plan, then we have the opportunity to gradually build real change and start seeing more and more investment back in our schools.