MCCOOK- The Nebraska Department of Education certified an education formula of $5.8 million for McCook Public Schools on March 1, 2023. The department found an error in their data, and the formula was reduced on June 9, 2023, to $5.5 million, a reduction of $300,000. Those were funds that MPS administrators were counting on when penciling out their plans for 2023-24.

The error was attributable to the portion of the TEEOSA formula that allocates dollars for “poverty” students. In the 20-21 school year, 43 percent of MPS’s students participated in free/reduced lunches. In 21-22, that dropped to 33 percent, causing a reduction in MPS’s poverty allocations.

Under the Pillen Plan, adopted by the Nebraska State Legislature this session, MPS will receive an additional $1 million in special education funding. Prior to the Pillen Plan, special education was reimbursed at a rate of about 40 percent. Going forward, that reimbursement will be at 80 percent, between state and federal dollars. That $1 million is not included in the certification dollars provided by the Nebraska Department of Education.

According to representatives of Gov. Pillen’s office, the state is providing $300 million statewide in new funds for K-12 public schools. “That is all new funding and does not touch the existing TEEOSA formula for equalized school districts like McCook,” said Kenny Zoeller, who is the director of the governor’s policy research office. “The reason why McCook is seeing a reduction in poverty allowance is because of the calculation of poverty kids in the McCook school district.”

He said the Pillen Plan increased school funding by 30 percent compared to last year. “If the Governor’s plan was not in place, that million dollars [special education reimbursement] would go away.” Between the special education reimbursement and the TEEOSA funding, MPS will receive $6.5 million, or an 18.5% increase in state aid, according to Zoeller.

“It’s an overly complicated formula that needs to be totally reformed,” Zoeller said. “And I know the governor’s intent on doing that.”

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