Superintendents are already coming out and saying that if we get a $55 increase to the basic allotment, expect staff reductions and programs to be cut. It’s an embarrassingly low amount, even for the clowns running our state. As one pundit put it, people passed vouchers to save the hostage and now they are returning the hostage dead, in pieces, and in a body bag.
Even if a slightly larger amount gets passed, we have started negotiations at such a low number, we are going to end up in a really bad place. This is the equivalent of somebody offering you 15k for your 500k house.
Two things need to happen, and neither will help the kids or the districts.
1. Every superintendent needs to be extremely transparent with their community about what this will mean. Nobody should have any doubts about where blame lies when programs get cut. They have kept quiet in the past and taken the blame for the legislature’s fuck ups.
2. Rural republicans should be publicly shamed by their communities for being little bitches that fucked over their kids and (usually) the largest employer in their area.
Edit: just for some context, the current basic allotment is $6,160 so $55 is less than a 1% increase. Districts have faced massive inflation on building costs, maintenance, busses, and a million other things since the last increase 6 years ago.