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State May Shrink Education Plan

It appears as if the Governor's Office might want to pay for a mere fraction of the State Board of Education's original $203 million request for competency-based education — and only a chunk of its pared-back plan.

Gov. Olene Walker requested the state education office draw up Performance Plus costs for helping first- through third-graders who struggle in reading, state associate superintendent Patrick Ogden told the Deseret Morning News on Wednesday.

The estimate: $29.5 million in the first year and $28.2 million every year thereafter, Ogden reports.

Walker, however, did not ask Ogden to analyze costs for the state school board's latest proposal, which focuses on students up to eighth grade and older students performing below the eighth-grade level in both reading and math, Ogden said.

"This is just a proposal we've put together . . . something the Legislature and governor asked us to look at and to cost out," he said. "It seems to indicate there isn't sufficient funding for the whole thing, so they wanted a scaled-down version. (But) I'm not going to draw any conclusions from that."

Walker spokeswoman Amanda Covington did not say whether the requested cost analysis means the full plan would not be funded in Walker's education budget proposal, due out next month.

Covington said she could "not speculate on where (Walker is) looking or focusing funding at this point."

Funding for competency-based education has been a sticky issue since the 2003 Legislature, which provided no funding for the measure in SB154.

The state school board has spent the past year working up a plan to focus on what students know and can do rather than passing them to the next level despite dismal grades.

It came up with a proposal, dubbed Performance Plus, and took it on the road for public comment. The proposal included stricter rules for high school grades and testing for credit toward graduation. It extended those rules to some middle school classes, too.

The plan sought $203 million in new money, mainly to give tutoring and other help to kindergartners through 12th-graders who struggle.

The price tag didn't sit well with some legislators, who believed it was too high. And the Governor's Office's early budget projections showed the state wouldn't have anywhere near that kind of new money in the coming year.

Those concerns, plus controversy over passing tests for credit, prompted the state school board to pare back the plan, and give more study to other aspects of Performance Plus. Now, the plan is to give help to students performing below the eighth-grade level.

But the board hasn't proposed what that might cost, board chairman Kim Burningham said.

"We've played with figures . . . but there is not a revised position," said Burningham, adding the board will wait to see what Walker recommends in her budget.

"The board said we would examine a dollar estimate in lower grades in reading and math, but even said in our discussions, we guess we'll see how much money can be eked out and we'll have to tailor the program to what exists.

"Yes, $200 million is what it will take, but we will also work with what we receive."



— Jennifer Toomer-Cook
tate may shrink education plan
Deseret Morning News
2003-11-28
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0%2C1249%2C565035039%2C00.html

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