The ideal way to design a state school funding system is to set educational goals first and then set up a revenue system that fairly funds what is needed to meet those goals.
That was the message from Dr. Bruce Baker – a University of Miami K-12 finance expert who was the keynote presenter at OpenSky’s recent Fall Policy Symposium.
Dr. Baker studies costs associated with achieving common education outcome goals with the objective of using cost analysis to guide school funding policies. In his work, he regularly advises states on how to improve their school funding systems.
“We’ve got to figure out what we want to get from providing public schooling (and) what does it cost to get there,” Dr. Baker said.
The next step, he said, is determining how state and local tax systems need to be set up to fairly to fund what is needed to achieve the goals.
His research shows Nebraska is in a good position to make solid improvements to its school funding system in terms of the level of dollars it puts toward students and the outcomes its schools produce, Dr. Baker said.
Nebraska performs well in national rankings in both of those regards, he said. Where the state could significantly improve is in the mix of local and state revenues it uses to fund K-12 education.
Nebraska’s heavy reliance on property taxes puts inordinate pressure on local taxpayers to fund schools, Dr. Baker said.
Setting outcome goals and and cost targets, and using empirical evidence to drive policy changes could help Nebraska finally overcome its long-standing reliance on property taxes and create a more effective funding system, Dr. Baker said.
Access a recording of Dr. Baker’s session here and download Dr. Baker’s presentation slides here.
Pandemic lessons and learnings
In a session that moderator Chris Rodgers referred to as a “debrief of the pandemic,” representatives from the behavioral health, education and food industries discussed learning and innovations that occurred in their fields since the arrival of COVID-19 virus.
All the panelists noted that technology played a key role in helping address pressing challenges including providing mental health care, getting food to residents in rural Nebraska and helping educate students learning from home.
Being able to provide telehealth services was essential to helping address mental health needs that were already pressing before the onset of the pandemic and that grew considerably more severe as COVID struck, said Dr. David Mier of Bryan Health Systems.
Ansley Fellers of the Nebraska Grocers Association said online technology allowed grocers in rural areas to help fill orders and safely get food to residents in more remote areas of the state.
Jennifer Worthington of Grand Island Public Schools said her district was able to use virtual learning to get students back to learning within two weeks of the pandemic striking.
But all three said considerable challenges emerged in their respective fields that could use action from policymakers.
Many Nebraska seniors in nursing homes and assisted living facilities struggled with isolation during the pandemic and were diagnosed with mental health conditions, Dr. Miers said. Many of these seniors were not able to remain in their care facilities after being diagnosed because the facilities were not equipped to care for mental health conditions. Another major challenge that occurred was that the state’s mental health workforce also saw a major loss of providers that hasn’t rebounded despite growing needs for mental health care, Dr. Miers said.
Lawmakers could explore policies that incentivize nursing homes and assisted living facilities to care for seniors with mental health diagnoses, he said. Policymakers may also want to consider initiatives like tuition reimbursement and licensing reform to bring more people into the mental health workforce, Dr. Miers said.
The pandemic also exacerbated workforce issues among grocers, Fellers said, and she encouraged policymakers to take steps to connect Nebraska workers with retail, wholesale, shipping and trucking jobs.
“All of those are really, really good paying jobs and they are really needed,” Fellers said.
Workforce is a key issue for Grand Island Public Schools as well, Worthington said. In particular, the district lost many paraeducators during the pandemic and is struggling to replace them. The state could look to help address this by supporting programs that attract more people into paraeducation, she said.
Access a recording of the panel discussion here.
Strong workforce leaves Nebraska in good position to weather economic downturn
In a conversation session with Sen. Myron Dorn, Dr. Eric Thompson of the University of Nebraska Bureau of Business Research said a combination of factors are contributing to the unprecedented inflation the country is experiencing. These factors include an influx of federal aid, supply chain problems, slow response from the Federal Reserve and the war in Ukraine, Dr. Thompson said.
And while many have expressed concerns that this period of high inflation could spark a recession, Dr. Thompson said Nebraska’s strong workforce could play a key role in helping the state weather such an economic downturn better than other states.
“Nebraskans have good resumes,” Dr. Thompson said, noting that our state’s workers on average have higher levels of education than the national average, which makes them less likely to lose jobs in economic downturns and more likely to get jobs when the economy rebounds.