In response to continuing economic downturns, the Baldwin County Board of Education met Nov. 17 to discuss the county’s $45 million required contribution to the state education funding program.

The contribution increase will make Baldwin County the number one contributor to the state funding system, according to Jean McCutchen, Baldwin County Public School finance director.

“We are number two now, but that is going to change next year when we become number one,” McCutchen said. “It is not a number one that we wanted to achieve.”

According to a state law intended to help equalize education standards by moving money from more affluent districts to less affluent districts, pubic school systems in Alabama are required to contribute 10 mills or the equivalent into the state’s education funding system in order to remain eligible for state funds.

One mill is $1 per $1000 of assessed property tax in order to receive funding from the State Department of Education, according to McCutchen.

McCutchen said the funds contributed by each district are spread throughout the state to provide a state-mandated standard education, which is typically not sufficient to staff Baldwin County Schools.

“When the (Alabama Coalition for Equity) case went to court, the court told the Legislature to remedy the historic under funding of certain education districts,” said Matt McDonald, an attorney working with the school board. “The Legislature set the 10-mill match as an interim measure.”

McDonald said the 10-mill match requirement has been increasing in previous fiscal years, but local funds have been absorbing the funding differences.

School finance records show the system’s match requirements have increased from $ 12 million to $45 since the 2001 fiscal year. The records also show increased state funding cuts could make Baldwin County lose more than $10 million in funding.

“Now state funding is going down and the lines between local funding and state funding are getting closer together,” McDonald said. “The next couple of years are going to be very difficult for the county.”

BOE member Norm Moore  said the only way to remedy to disparities in funding might be to take the issue back to the courts where it began.

“This equity funding was born in the courts, not in the Legislature,” Moore said.

“In 1995, when this thing started, there were victims of the system and the courts stepped in because the Legislature would not do anything.”

“The courts told the legislature to fix it, and so they fixed it with what seemed to be an equitable matter at the time. Now the victims have changed. We’re the victims, and the Legislature is not going to change it because the majority of the Legislature and the people the legislators are representing benefit from this inequity. They have no incentive to change it.

“Most of the state does not understand the problem,” Moore said. “People do not understand that we are being victimized.”

District 6 board member Robert Callahan said the problem is not unique to Baldwin County.

“It is amazing to me the inequities and how they manifest themselves,” Callahan said. “You would be amazed at the places that are being treated unfairly including places like Washington County and Anniston City.”

Callahan said Baldwin County might have more “fellow travelers” than expected who want to find a solution to foundation funding disparities.

“Your fellow travelers are not just the ones with the millage, but the ones situated where we are with some of the special needs,” Callahan said. “The real problem is with the way (assessments) are being done.

“The assessments are supposed to be done including the special needs of students and other factors, and (the way it is being done) creates some things as far as fellow travelers that may end up surprise people.”

McDonald told BOE members the simple truth of the law does not require everyone to be treated equally.

“You are going to need fellow travelers,” McDonald said.

There are essentially three avenues the board could take — legal, legislative or administrative — according to Terry Wilhite, Baldwin County Public Schools Communications Director.

“The first is a legal avenue which would involve a legal suit,” Wilhite said. “The second is a legislative avenue which would be our board working with local legislators to find a solution and the third option is to work with the state Department of Education to solve the issue.”

Wilhite said Tuesday the BOE is optimistic there are plausible avenues to find a solution and a lawsuit will not been needed.