This past week I attended a conference of the Great City Schools, an
oprganization made up of the largest school districts in the country. It
was very informative. The session I found most eye-opening was the one
presented by a member of the States Commission on Education. This
organization's role is to help formulate and advise states and the Federal
Dept of Education on education policy. The basis of the recommendations
centered around loosely veiled vouchers, privitization of education and
union busting. This organization is Republican controlled because it's
members are appointed by governors. Since 37 states have Rep. Govs, hence
it's republican agenda.
Let me enlighten the list about one aspect of privitization. Our district
is currently paying out about $3+ million per year in un reimbursed
medicaid costs for children with special needs. The Federal Govt. has made
billing a very complex process. Schools Districts were not prepared to do
this and needed to either embark on a training program or turn to 3rd party
billing. The MPS is doing the first option and is now in a position to
start reclaiming this money.
However, many school districts had neither the time or money to invest in
this new form of financial management. They instead turned to for profit
3rd party billing entities. These entities are charging up to 25% of the
reimbursements. (Some were offering jobs in this area for 6 figures.) So
at the loss to children and districts who scramble to cover their costs,
these companies are lining their pockets.
We here in MPS may be affected by the back lash of unscrupulous companies
that were engaging in medicaid fraud when the Fed. decides to tighten up
those requirements and make it harder for school districts to collect.
Certain large districts such as Houston, were up and running and were
offering their services to smaller districts at about 5% of reimbursment
cost, a considerable savings. When districts in Ohio attempted to do this,
they were blocked by the Feds. Coincidentally, the 3rd party billing
companies stood to lose a lot of business in Ohio. Makes one ask, who is
really excerting the most influences at the fed level?
Vouchers--while the Supreme Court has not really ruled on them
specifically, they are one vote short of allowing them outright. This
bothers me as a Board Member and a resident of an urban district because
for 26 years, the Feds have mandated certain things and then after
promising to fund them at 40%, is now funding at 9% here in MPS. The
system of education block grants, which were started under Reagan, began
the tremendous ebbing of Federal funds from local school districts. Under
this system of funding, the mandated spending went from about 18% to 9%.
The feds never really got close to the promised 40%, but the biggest slide
occurred under Reagan. This directly affects our students, as you may
remember in our budget we have cross subsidies for Federal and States
mandates at about $27 million. This is money that comes out of our general
budget to fund what the Feds and the State require (as they should, it's
services for special needs children) but do not fund. The State is far
ahead of the Fed on paying up but there is still a lot of ground to cover.
The Supreme Court is allows funds to flow through private citizens to
religious and private schools, it just can not directly go to those schools.
The MPS end up paying costs to charter schools on excess special education
costs that charter schools bill back to the district. The district also
pays for transportation, up to 1,000 per student in charter and private
schools and it reimbursed at about $250 per student.
I am not advocating for anyone, I am just letting you all know a little bit
about what is going on behind the 30 sec. sound bites. I urge the Federal
Govt. to actually fund those mandates at 25-40% for 5-7 years before
embarking on a punitive actions that allows companies and private schools
to profit while the neediest children are left behind! If they do what
they said they were going to 26 years ago, instead of cutting funding while
increasing reporting and mandates, give public school systems time to do
the work, less hindered. After 5-7 years, look again at student
achievement, then we can take up the debate on vouchers and privitization
if there is no significant changes nationally. the Republican Agenda on
Education, as laid forth by this commission will bring about a knock out
punch to public education and leave our needist students very far behind.
Audrey Johnson, MPS Board Member
10th Ward
