Picus & Odden back in Wyoming

Allan Odden and Lawrence Picus have been retained by the Wyoming Legislative Service Office to work with the Legislature’s Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration to update the cost basis of all the elements of the state’s school finance formula. The current funding formula was based on an adequacy study the pair conducted for the state in 2005 and updated five years later during the state’s 2010 recalibration effort.

The work for the 2015 recalibration project draws from an Odden and Picus authored “Desk Audit” of the state’s school finance system that recommended recalibration of many components of the funding model. Odden and Picus met with the Committee on May 21 and 22 in Casper, Wyoming to launch this year’s recalibration effort.

Superintendent Receives Award for Budgeting in Evidence-Based Ways

Randy Poe, Superintendent of Boone County, Kentucky recently was recognized as the 2015 F.L. Dupree Outstanding Superintendent of the Year Award by the Kentucky School Board Association. Poe stated that Boone County has been very successful because it has been forced to look to evidence based finance to finance it operations and align everything to the instructional core.

The book on “Improving Student Learning When Budgets are Tight” is a valuable resource for all districts whether budgets are tight or not. It has been the major resource for our budget committee to establish priorities over time utilizing it as a guide.

Our district is funded $20 million less than the average school district in Kentucky based on per pupil spending for our size but our focus on the right priorities such as instructional coaches allows us to continue to improve academic gains.

Based on School Match.com we are in the lowest 10% for funding in the Nation but score in the top 60% in the Nation on academic performance. We truly believe we are that successful because of the Evidence-Based approach to school finance.

Picus Odden Kentucky Adequacy Study Released

On December 7-8, 2014 the Picus Odden and Associates’ adequacy study prepared for the Kentucky Council for Better Education, a consortium of 168 Kentucky public school districts, was released at the winter conference of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents. Though the study calls for increased funding, Tom Shelton, Chair of CBE and a Kentucky superintendent, said the importance of the study was that, “It is a model of what it takes to have a successful school. This is about improving the investment Kentucky makes in its public schools.” Shelton, and Mike Goetz, senior associate with Picus Odden and Associates who conducted the study, also briefed legislators, the governor and other Kentucky policy makers on December 9.

The study was mentioned in two press articles:

http://www.kentucky.com/2014/12/09/3584821_proposed-new-formula-for-funding.html?rh=1

http://www.kyforward.com/our-schools/2014/12/09/group-proposes-new-funding-system-focused-on-resources-each-school-needs-for-success/

 

Picus Odden and Associates in the News

An article in the Park City Kentucky Daily News on Kentucky school funding refers to the Picus Odden and Associates forthcoming Kentucky adequacy study, to be released in December, as well as previous work the firm has conducted on school finance in Kentucky.   http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/state-th-worst-in-public-education-cuts-study-says/article_125b583e-df17-5045-aedf-7ba7dbdc4eba.html

Large School Funding Bill Introduced in North Dakota

At its final meeting on October 15, 2014, the North Dakota Interim Education Funding Committee approved a bill to provide the largest increase in K-12 education funding in the state’s history, drawing on recommendations from the Picus Odden and Associates 2014 Recalibration Report conducted for the Committee.  The bill would hike the state’s foundation per pupil amount by $390 to $9,482 for 2015-16 and another $390 to $9,766 in 2016-17.  The bill would increase funding for at risk students in grades K-8, and all ELL students, as well as provide up to $225 million for school construction to provide space for the state’s growing student population.  The bill needs approval by the 2015 Legislature, but with rapidly growing revenues from the oil and gas boom in the state, the money is in state coffers.

Picus and Odden Assess Arkansas Funding System

Picus Odden and Associates partners Larry Picus and Allan Odden, together with Scott Price, the new chief financial officer of the Los Angeles County Office of Education, presented a ‘”2014 Arkansas Desk Audit” of the Arkansas school funding system to a summer meeting of the House and Senate Education Committees.

Picus and Odden helped Arkansas develop the current funding system in a 2003 project with an Interim Committee responding to court mandate to create an “adequate” funding structure.  With that study as the foundation, the legislature enacted a new funding system in 2004.  The legislature then had Picus and Odden recalibrate the funding structure in 2006.

Maryland taps Picus Odden and Associates for adequacy study

On June 18, the Maryland Department of Education approved a contract with APA Consulting to conduct a comprehensive school finance adequacy study.  Picus Odden and Associates partnered with APA on this project and is a major subcontractor.  Our firm will conduct an Evidence-Based adequacy analysis for the state, and use the results, in conjunction with the results of two other adequacy methods, to propose a new “base” foundation expenditure per pupil level, together with weights for students from poverty, ELL students and students with disabilities.  The project also will conduct studies of improving schools in multiple contexts.

North Dakota Final Report

On June 2, 2014, Picus Odden and Associates’ Principal Partner Allan Odden met with the Interim Education Funding Committee of the North Dakota Legislature to present the final report on the recalibration of North Dakota’s funding formula.

Of many findings in the report, the recommendations include increasing the Foundation Per Student number (the base adequacy level) from $8,810 to $9,247 and increasing the at-risk student weight, to provide extra help to struggling students from poverty and ELL backgrounds, from 0.05 to 0.20 plus a summer school weight of 0.6.

North Dakota Recalibration Study

During the last week of March, Picus Odden and Associates’ lead partners, Lawrence O. Picus and Allan Odden, met with a dozen school business officials and superintendents in each of two meetings in Bismarck and West Fargo, North Dakota.

The purpose of the meetings was to garner local feedback on several technical issues related to the firm’s recalibration work: pupil weights for at-risk students, ELL students, students with disabilities, summer school and home school supervision.  The groups also discussed an appropriate fringe benefit rate for staff benefits and the district portion of employee health care costs, school staffing focusing on instructional coaches, and small district adjustments.

The input will be included in a final report that will be discussed by the Legislative Interim Committee on Education Funding in Grand Forks, North Dakota on June 2, 2014.

Kentucky Adequacy Study

Picus Odden and Associates began a school finance adequacy study in Kentucky early in 2014, working with the Kentucky School Finance Adequacy Advisory Committee.  The Committee has already met twice and plans to meet again on May 12.  The project is being led by Picus Odden & Associates Senior Associate, Michael Goetz.

To supplement the diverse representation of stakeholders on the Committee, Mike Goetz and Adriane Williams took a three day tour of the state to seek input from teachers and business leaders. They spent April 16 in Hazard (East), April 17 in Madisonville (West), and April 18 in Louisville, home to the largest student population in the state. The diversity of opinions offered by these roughly 30 teachers and 6 business leaders will be integral in developing the final recommendations for the State.