School Funding Vote May Be too Close to Call

By Jorge Casuso

May 11 – A funding agreement between the City and School Board may not have the necessary City Council votes for approval Tuesday night, The Lookout has learned.

According to City Attorney Marsha Moutrie, four votes would be needed to approve the agreement and avert a controversial funding measure from making the November ballot.

Councilman Bob Holrook is out of town and Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown cannot vote because he is a contractor for the School District.

That leaves three council members -- Mayor Richard Bloom and Councilmen Ken Genser and Herb Katz -- who are expected to support the agreement, which would pump between $6 million and $8 million a year into the cash-strapped school system by 2009.

The key votes will likely be cast by Council members Michael Feinstein and Pam O’Connor, who have expressed reservations about the funding plan.

O’Connor is out of town and is expected to arrive shortly after the council adjourns from closed session, which should be at around 8 p.m., City officials said.

Representatives from the Community for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS), which has been poised to submit the signatures needed to qualify a charter amendment on the ballot, said they will meet after the meeting to decide a course of action.

“We have a plan for the group to vote after the council vote,” said CEPS co-chair Shari Davis. “I don’t think we ever expected it to be slam dunk.”

Last week CEPS voted unanimously to accept the agreement pending approval by the School Board and the City Council.

The City Clark has said the group should hand in the signatures in early May to assure the measure would make the November ballot.

The five-year agreement before the council -- which allows public use of district facilities -- calls for the City to boost the $3 million to $5.25 million it has given the district in each of the past few years to at least $6 million annually starting in July.

The amount would then increase with a cost of living adjustment that would likely reach about $500,000 in the fifth year. Additional increases of as much as $1 million in 2007/2008 would depend on the City’s fiscal health.

If the revenue streams falter, City payments could be held constant or reduced by no more than $1 million.

If approved, the funding proposal would generate far less funds for the district than the CEPS initiative.