By Sheri Palmer

In the past, children receiving free or reduced lunches had been figured into the state aid formula as a bonus for districts. But for the 2008-09 year, those students were taken out as an automatic factor and were only included if the district demonstrated how it would use the money for students in a 13-point "poverty plan." Some districts didn't like the idea of being forced to detail and reorganize funding for plans they were already enacting.

The Feb. 24 issue of The Grand Island Independent is quoted as saying, "Some districts, including nine in Central Nebraska, didn't submit the new plan and lost those low-income students from their formula.

Timothy Shafer, superintendent of Broken Bow Public Schools, told his district's board that he didn't apply because it would have risked making the identities of those low-income students public." It is a fact, that the names of those low-income students did not have to be identified, only the number of students, who qualified for free or reduced lunches. The school board informed me that it would have risked the identification of the students, if they were picked up for transportation, under the poverty plan. I later learned that the district does not have to approach the student for transportation. The student can come to the district, if he or she qualifies, and elect to be transported. This way, the student is electing to be identified, instead of the district identifying the student. After talking to the Department of Education, the transportation plan is basically for schools that have trouble with truancy. If a school is not dealing the truancy, then the transportation portion may not be an issue.

This year according to the superintendent's office, the enrollment at Broken Bow schools, PK through 12, is 809 students. That enrollment is down 4.15 percent from last year. Of those students, 36 percent qualified for free or reduced lunch. Russ Inbody at the Department of Education for Finance (DEF) in Lincoln used the figures that were given to me by Broken Bow's superintendent's office. By using their formula in Lincoln, which was initially certified on Feb. 1, Mr. Inbody calculated the maximum that Broken Bow schools would have qualified for the poverty plan in 2008-09. Broken Bow schools would have qualified for a whopping $103,559 in the poverty plan alone, but the superintendent and the school board elected not to apply.

According to a member of the Broken Bow school board, if they would have applied for this state aid, the district would probably have had to hire a person for $50,000 to take care of this state aid program, and it would not be worth it, to chase after those few dollars ($103,559). In talking to the DEF, only schools as big as Omaha might hire a person to handle the program. This program is designed to hold the schools accountable to how they spend the money.

As far as being told I have been misinformed, I do not think the DEF would mislead me or anyone else that calls for information.

A board member stated that there were no workshops held. In fact, there were 13 workshops held in different places in the state, and it was available through teleconference at the school, to get all the information necessary for application of this state aid program. Perhaps someone should have inquired about this through one of the resources. When in doubt, call the Department of Education for Finance.