Hi Next Gen'ers,
Whether you were watching Kick-Tac-Toe at the Pro Bowl or the formation of the DINO Committee to confirm the Governor's Director Nominations, I hope you are enjoying the games of February. Wild bills are moving around.
We spent years dealing with legislation trying to force the consolidation of Districts, and now we have a bill trying to split Districts apart. Restrictions on helping Districts pass initiatives, attacks on Superintendents, and plenty of ideas about "reform, transparency, and accountability". Well, I have some of my own ideas, including this loophole of the day...
On March 1, the Governor can declare a State of Emergency, which will open up the playbook. The quickest fix will be to issue a State Grant since State Grants are exempted from the AEL. The grant should have no supplanting restrictions and be able to be used on any M&O or Capital expense.
When I was at ADE during the Great Recession, a bill was run that reduced State Aid due to the presence of cash at the Districts. I hated that bill and really hated fixing their math and implementing it. However, that approach could be used to make this grant cost-neutral for the State and create a permanent "go-to" fix for a Governor when they don't agree with the legislature. The Governor would need to cease State Aid Equalization payments and direct ADE to use those funds to pay out the State Grant.
It would be a full remedy with an immediate fix. It would essentially wipe out the AEL.
The Governor would definitely come under fire since the legislature, at least the party in power, would view this as an abuse of her power.
26-301 defines when the Governor can declare a State of Emergency. As with most statutes, the author didn't trust their ability to predict everything that may happen in the future, and they left a catch-all. School Districts needing to suddenly close their doors and leave students without an education and families without childcare could be considered "Other Causes" of "Extreme Peril". It would be hard to argue against that fact when the people making the argument would be the same people who said Districts needed to stay open during the pandemic.
This would fix all Districts, but it would create a significant battle for the Governor's Office.
Feel free to run any of these loopholes by your legal counsel or auditor, and I always welcome feedback on why the logic isn't sound. On this particular one, no lobbyist or member of the Governor's Office has so much as hinted to me that they are looking at possible Executive Orders as a fix. This is just me thinking, "what would I do if I was Hobbs?"
It would be nice to see the Governor REG-ulate those who don't want to exempt School Districts from the AEL. However, these types of ideas should be used as a last resort...I'm still confident that we will have the vote in a few weeks.
Have a good week, everyone!
Jeremy
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