i_sfinance_2017a_2017-11-09t09:07:09z4 Hearing Summary

Date: 11/09/2017

Location: LSB B

11:59 AM -- Committee Discussion: Subcommittees / Field Trips / Other



Stakeholder Engagement:



Rep Garnett discussed finding time on 12/13 and 12/14 to have "office hours" in which members of the committee and the consultants be available to engage stakeholders around school finance issues. The committee dialogued about this approach. Committee discussed possibly collecting stakeholder feedback from the interim committee website, if possible. Stakeholder have been reaching out directly to vendors and committee might prefer to have involvement in those conversations via a stakeholder engagement on the 13th and 14th, if available. Rep Buckner asked vendors to offer their perspective on how to best engage stakeholders in this process.



12:22 PM



Rep Garnett pledged to work with staff and members to set up a process to take in some of this outside feedback and engage stakeholders. The committee then moved to a discussion of subcommittee work. Rep Hamner suggested that state share / local share and related issues should be a subcommittee topic. Other members acknowledged this is the "elephant in the room"; That issue should be added to the agenda for the next meeting on Dec 15 and should be the first agenda item up on that hearing's agenda. Rep Leonard suggested a spending/expenditures/ cost-benefit might be another good subcommittee topic. He is interested in spending patterns specifically and would like to get at Cost Accounting at the district level. Rep Garnett suggested a subcommittee on taxation issues and constitutional issues. Rep Lundeen suggested a discussion on the marginal utility of the last dollar spent as a result of the increased responsibilities added to public schooling; i.e; Are we prioritizing the money spent intelligently to maximize the utility of that last dollar spent. Are state and federal mandates limiting the marginal utility of that last dollar? Sen Zenzinger suggested a committee focused on equity. Rep Garnett pledged to work with the excused members to get their ideas about other subcommittee topice and how to best manage the mechanics of creating and convening these sub-groups.



12:38 PM



C&J suggested another subcommittee might want to address governance and accountability issues, which place the discussion of school finance into the larger context of school policy such that the finance act might better support or at least be rationally linked to this larger context.



12:47 PM



Committee discussed making more overt the values behind the current act and being specific about how Education has changed/ Are the values inherent in the existing act still the right ones/ valid, etc. That could be a subcommittee in itself;

Next meeting agenda items will include the statutory requirements of 1340 but added a conversation on state share and local share issues;