Fixing School Funding Error | Video

Kristin Clouston | 3/11/2013

A mistake in the state education funding formula would have taken away millions of dollars from public schools on reservations. But Senators say they`re going to restore it.

Before crossover, the House amended a bill that inadvertently shortchanged Native American schools. House Bill 1319 is a 42 page bill that deals with all aspects of K-12 funding.

Representatives say they recently discovered an error that would cost each of the 11 public school districts on reservations hundreds of thousands of dollars in state school aid.

"Once we became aware of it, it was too late to do anything about it before it was sent over to the Senate. But we are aware of it, we`ve been working with the Governor`s office and the DPI and believe we have a fix, and we`ll be working to implement that in the Senate," said Representative David Monson (R) from Osnabrock.

Representatives say the formula assessed a tax revenue base the districts don`t have.

"There has to be a number in there but it has to be the right number. The problem is we don`t have the right number in there," said Representative Tracy Boe (D) from Mylo.

It`s out of House members` hands now but Senators Marcellais and Heckman have agreed to help fix the problem.

"I will be introducing an amendment to HB 1319 that will provide adequate state education funding increases for our Native American School Districts," Marcellais said.

He`s also recommending working with the state on short and long term funding plans so this doesn`t happen again.

The issue will go before the Senate Education Committee tomorrow morning.

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