UPDATED:
It’s Official! The Kent County Commissioners received word from the State School Superintendent on Tuesday that Kent County met Maintenance of Effort for the next school year. The ruling means that the county is not responsible to pay the cost of school nurses. The school board has budgeted $366,000 for nurses this year — and will be funded out of the $16.98 school budget that was ratified in June.
The Attorney General’s Office has ruled on whether Kent County failed to meet Maintenance of Effort when it ended a health department subsidy that has paid for school nurses since 1995 – but the decision is unknown until the commissioners receive a letter from the AG this week, said Kent County Administrator Susie Hayman.
Maintenance of Effort requires county governments to fund schools at the same level per pupil as the prior school year.
Hayman was also told by the State Board of Education on Tuesday that the commissioners were no longer required to answer a July 9 letter from the State School Superintendent to explain an alleged MOE funding shortfall — because KCPS Superintendent Barbara Wheeler had revised her certification of Maintenance of Effort on July 23 to show the county was in compliance with new school funding mandates that passed the legislature this year.
The July 9 letter from the State School Superintendent had sided with Wheeler’s original MOE certification that claimed the county made an “impermissible” program shift when the county ended the nurse subsidy. The letter gave the commissioners a small window of time to respond.
But Wheeler later submitted her revised MOE certification — under pressure from the Kent School Board. The members unanimously agreed that the budget agreement with the county was ironclad and had passed muster under the new MOE law.
Attached to Wheeler’s re-certification was a letter from Kent School Board President Brian Kirby that said Wheeler’s original certification was “in error.”
“As a result of the school board’s actions [and] filing of the amended certification, we no longer need to take any further action.” Hayman said at Tuesday’s commissioners meeting.
With no need to explain the alleged program shift, Commissioner Ron Fithian took the conversation between Hayman and the State Board of Education as favorable. He believes the AG’s decision will more than likely reinforce the $16.98 million school budget that was negotiated and finalized with the school board.
“I’m going to go out on a limb,” Fithian said with a cautious tone. “It makes me believe they’re going to side with us.”
Related articles:
Wheeler Re-Certifies Maintenance of Effort, Kirby Tells State Original Certification was Wrong
School Board Cuts Funding for Two Nurses, One at KCHS and the other TBD
Nursing Budget Shifts To Schools, Teacher Reductions and Salary Cuts Likely
SpyCam: Fithian Says State Taking Over Local Control of Education
County Facing Major Clash with School Board over Education Budget
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