School Funding & Property Tax Relief - Is ranking 49th out of 50 good enough?

This past month in the state legislature has been of particular interest to Nebraska Educators.  Two bills, LB 958 and LB 959, both attempt to solve the problem of property tax burdens to landowners.  LB 959, introduced by Senator Sullivan on behalf of Governor Ricketts, attempts to control the spending by public schools.  LB 958, introduced by Senator Gloor, attempts to address the issue of fast growing agricultural land valuations and the subsequent tax levy against those lands.

I had the pleasure of listening to the debate on LB 959 in the Education Committee.  I was amazed to hear stories each 'side' of the conversation presented.  When the dust had settled and the smoke had cleared, the testimony of York superintendent Dr. Mike Lucas (@YorkDukePower) resonated the most.  He stated that we don't have a spending problem in schools, we have a school funding problem. Dr. Lucas later produced a blog outlining the fiscal reality of their district demonstrating how through fiscal responsibility, the current school funding formula, commonly known as TEEOSA penalizes schools.  You can read Mr. Lucas's blog post here: http://yorkdukepride.blogspot.com/2016/02/us-vs-them-is-no-win-situation.html

Over the past few days, I have been taking time to explore the historical financial reality of our district much the way Mr. Lucas did.  Here is what I discovered.  Nebraska ranks 49th out of 50 states in school funding.  The percentage of our state's budget dedicated to education has dropped from 32% in 1999 to 27% in 2015.  Below is a table showing the Cozad specific numbers since 2007.

	School Year	Amount of State Aid Received by Cozad	Increase or decrease from previous year	General Fund Budget	Cost Per Pupil	Statewide Average cost per pupil	Total Valuation	Property Tax Levy per $100 of valuation	Increase or decrease of tax levy from previous year
	07-08	$3,347,213.66		$9,421, 263	$8,550.00		$380,384,944	$0.950138	-4.69%
	08-09	$3,344,323.79	-0.09%	$9,817,703	$8,964.84		$390,802,189	$0.964890	1.55%
	09-10	$3,989,938.73	19.30%	$10,675,566	$9,513.54		$425,090,910	$0.979139	1.48%
	10-11	$3,905,643.98	-2.11%	$11,641,080	$9,855.05		$454,294,150	$1.000001	2.08%
	11-12	$3,015,254.95	-22.80%	$11,847,296	$9,097.86		$489,662,099	$0.956431	-4.36%
	12-13	$2,761,619.09	-8.41%	$11,847,296	$10,396.27	$10,709.67	$512,425,447	$0.956562	0.01%
	13-14	$3,003,570.91	8.76%	$12,123,236	$10,839.09	$11,040.44	$590,978,746	$0.956557	-0.0005%
	14-15	$2,684,740.22	-10.62%	$12,665,492	$11,304.00	$11,364.62	$713,201,677	$0.956212	-0.03%
Est.	15-16	$2,094,542.06	-21.98%	$13,283,784	TBD	TBD	$796,440,220	$0.978978	2.38%
Est.	16-17	$941,819.00	-55.03%	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
			Total Decrease since 2007 = 71%						Percent Increase since 2007 = 3%

So what can we draw from these numbers?  State aid to Cozad schools has decreased by 71%, yet our local tax levy has only gone up by 3% from 2007 to 2016.  Property valuations have increased by 87% over this same time period.  The drop in state aid has forced local school district to rely more heavily on the local tax base for funding.  In 2007 just 46% of our budget came from property taxes, but with the loss of 71% of our state aid to schools, that has forced local property taxes to make up 54% of our budget today.  Undoubtedly, there is a burden upon large land owners and it is imperative that as communities across the state, we come together and find a solution to the problem of how our schools are funded.

To bring this back to the legislative bills LB958 and LB959, they are not only bad for education, they do not address the central problem of school funding from the state.  I encourage all of you to continue this conversation for the sake of our students.  The next time you hear a politician say they are going to cut taxes, just remember, those cuts have to be made up elsewhere.  Our current Governor, Senator Gloor, and Senator Sullivan are simply passing the buck.  Instead of tackling the issue of how we fund schools, they are shifting our focus away from the real issue.

Are you still not convinced that the way education is funded in Nebraska is broken?  Then ponder this: If the Nebraska Cornhusker football team ranked 49th out of 50 teams, would you not wonder if that system is in need of change?

An Educational Take on 40 Chance for Finding Hope in a Hungry World...Part 1

Last year about this time, I read a great book by Howard Buffett, son of the famous Warren Buffett.  The book was entitled 40 Chances for Finding Hope in a Hungry World.  The gist of the book was in our working lives, we have about 40 chances (40 years) to make a lasting impact.  I highly recommend the book and will go as far as saying that if you read it with an open heart, it will change the way you approach your everyday work.

This fall, I have had the opportunity to travel with several groups of students to events such as the Rural Futures Conference, a career day in agriculture sponsored by First Bank & Trust, and the UNMC career opportunities day.  After each one of these days and the follow up conversations with students, it has reinforced how small our window of opportunity is make a lasting and meaningful impact in the lives of our students.  The obvious conclusion, is that with the high school students we have today, we don't have forty chances, we only have four.  Those four chances pass with the blink of an eye and as educators and leaders we should experience a sense of extreme urgency to 'get it right' with our students.

The reality of life in small town rural America, is that sometimes, we are our worst enemies when it comes to the long term viability of our communities.  We do a great job of teaching our students.  We do a great job of instilling the ethic of work.  We do a great job of laying the foundation for future success in a global society.  Where we fall short, is building lasting relationships between our students and our community stakeholders.  We fail to build opportunites for our students to return to our communities to carry the torch of rural America and the economic viability of our communities.

Recently, our school has made the decision to revitalize an agriculture education program.  For those of you who have a sterotypical view of agriculture jobs flashing through your minds, keep in mind that depending upon the source or region of Nebraska, anywhere from one out of four (25%) to three out of four (75%) jobs in our state are directly related to agriculture.  These jobs go far beyond production into the finance, logistics, and manufacturing industries as well.  Through our agriculture education program, we hope to provide greater educational opportunities for our students where they can find meaningful and productive work after formal education ends.  We also hope to help our all of our students (high ability and vocationally bound) the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills that are relevant to all of us.

During this process, we have gathered together a committee of local stakeholders to help us formulate the vision for our program, build partnerships, and recruit the highest quality instructor possible.  This week, we held our first stakeholder meeting to gather their invaluable input on the direction our program should take, as well as, ideas to bring greater value to our agriculture education program.  This is one of the greatest benefits of living in small town rural America.  The opportunity to personally know and work with these core members of our community to provide a better educational system.  The opportunity to work with our community members can't have a price tag placed on it.

I am born and raised in Cozad and ten years ago, made the choice to come back home.  Perhaps that was by happenstace, perhaps there was some primary experience which called me back home.  Either way, what matters most is that I returned.  Every day, I try not to take for granted all the hidden opportunities that exist in the challenges of living in small town America.  It is not often that people have the chance to impact an entire community and region in their work, but that is an everyday reality of living in a rural community.   My experiences have been so positive that I hope that all of our students one day have the chance to come back home too!

With our high school students, one year represents 25% of the 'chances' we have to prepare them for the real world.  It represents 25% of the chances we have to help them discover their passion.  It represents 25% of our chances to help them discover opportunities and connect with our community so that they can help sustain the work done by those living in our community today.  Four chances go by quickly.  I challenge all who read this to comment with a memory of someone who helped you identify your passion and inspired you to 'find hope in a hungry world'.  I also challenge all eductors reading this to never take a day for granted.  Our chances are limited, so make the most of every one of them.

Diversified Agriculture Certificate Opportunity at Cozad High School

Are you interested in an Ag related career after high school?  Do you want to earn college credit while still in high school?  Better yet, would you like to earn college credits in high school for FREE?  If this is you, then you will be interested to learn about a new exciting opportunity for Cozad High School students.

Over the past few months, Cozad High School has partnered with the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (NCTA) in Curtis to increase our offerings in our Career and Technical Education area.  The latest partnership to emerge is the offering of a career academy which will lead to earning a certificate in diversified agriculture.  Students who complete this academy will not only be exposed to career relevant experiences, but have a skill set which prepares them for a high demand career field.  After graduation, it would take a student roughly a year finish the coursework for an associates degree of applied science in Diversified Agriculture.

The Diversified Agriculture Career Academy will be offered to students through a variety of methods.  Some of the courses will be traditionally taught courses by Cozad High School teachers who have articulated their courses with NCTA and are serving as adjunct instructors.  Other courses in the program will taught through distance learning by professors at NCTA.  The courses taught by NCTA staff will be college level courses that may very well include other college students.  A third delivery method of coursework may be through online independent study.  The specific details of each of the course delivery methods is still being finalized.

It is important that both the students and their parents understand that by enrolling into the Career Academy, they are in essence, becoming a college student who is working towards earning an associates degree.  If a student completes the program, the student, upon graduation from Cozad High School, will also be awarded an associates degree in Diversified Agriculture from NCTA.  Since this is a college level experience, it will require that students are of the ability to do and benefit from college coursework before they will be allowed to enroll.

One of the greatest benefits to Cozad High School and the students who enroll in this program is the cost savings.  Through the generosity and forward thinking initiatives of Dr. Scott Mickelson, the associate dean at NCTA, the students at Cozad High School will be able to earn this degree with little to no out of pocket expense.  Students who enroll in the Diversified Agriculture Career Academy will apply for the ACE scholarship.  Those students are not awarded an ACE scholarship will then be granted scholarship aid from NCTA.  This will allow the students to enroll in the these courses without paying tuition.

In order to be eligible to apply to this academy, a student must be at least a sophomore at the start of the 2015-2016 school year.  The application process will be determined once the initial interest is measured.  Interest in the academy does not guarantee admission.  Academic records, attendance, maturity, career interests, and ability to benefit will all be part of the selection process.

The coursework will total 30 college credits.  Below is the initial course framework that NCTA has outlined for this academy.

Students completing 30 credits, as outlined below, will be awarded an NCTA Certificate in Diversified Agriculture.

Plan of Study
Course #	Course Name	Credits	Semester
AIT 1092	Intro to Spreadsheets	2	Soph – Fall (1st)
SPC 1103	Sales Communication	3	Soph - Spring (2nd)
ASI 1302	Animal Management	3	Soph - Spring (2nd)
HSL 1053	Landscape Appreciation	3	Jr - Fall (3rd)
AGR 1103	Crop Science	3	Jr - Fall (3rd)
AGR 1213	Natural Resource Management	3	Jr - Spring (4th)
HSL 1073	Landscape Plants 1	3	Jr - Spring (4th)
ASI 1253	Nutrition, Livestock	3	Sr – Fall (5th)
MTH 1503	College Algebra	3	Sr – Fall (5th)
ECN 1203	Microeconomics	3	Sr – Spring (6th)
AEQ 2301 AGR 2201	Pesticide Certification OR OR Commercial Ag Carrier (CDL)	1 1	Sr – Spring (6th)
	TOTAL	30 credits

The actual memorandum of understanding between NCTA and Cozad Community Schools can be found by clicking here

This program is ideal for students who are interested in continuing their education after high school at the post-secondary level in an ag related field.  Because of the affiliation of NCTA with the University of Nebraska system, the transferability of these course is very high to both UNL and to Chadron State College.  The specifics of transferability are determined on a program by program basis. 

Specific questions about the program can directed to Dustin Favinger, high school counselor, via email dustin.favinger@cozadschools.net or via phone 308.784.2744

Cozad Community Schools would like to thank the efforts of NCTA for their continued commitment to helping the students of Cozad High School reach their career goals and enriching academic experiences.