People often say you never want to know how the sausage is made. The phrase is frequently used to describe the legislative process, where the final product may look simple enough, but what happens behind the scenes can be complicated, messy and difficult to explain.
Louisiana’s Minimum Foundation Program, better known as the MFP, has always felt a little like that to me.
During my years as a reporter for the Minden Press-Herald and later the Bossier Press-Tribune, I asked more than once for someone to explain exactly how the state funds local school districts through the MFP.
I never really got a straight answer.
It was not because people were unwilling to help. The bigger problem was that the formula itself had become so complicated that even people who worked around it every day often needed charts, spreadsheets and lengthy explanations to describe how all the pieces fit together.
Now, Louisiana has an opportunity to change that.
A new state task force has begun reviewing the roughly $4 billion formula that determines how public education dollars are distributed across Louisiana. The discussion will include teacher and support-worker pay, declining enrollment, local tax capacity and the enormous differences between school districts across the state.
That is no small assignment.
Every school district is different. Some have strong local tax bases. Others do not. Some are growing. Others are losing students. Some communities benefit from major industrial investments that generate additional revenue, while others have very little room to raise more money locally.
Any funding formula has to recognize those realities.
But complexity should not become an excuse for confusion.
If lawmakers, educators and state officials are going to overhaul the MFP, I hope they make simplicity and transparency part of the goal.
The public ought to be able to understand, in plain language, how the state arrives at the amount of money sent to each school district.
A superintendent should be able to explain it to a school board. A school board member should be able to explain it to a taxpayer. A parent should be able to understand why one district receives a certain amount while another receives something different.
There may always be complicated calculations behind the numbers. That is understandable. What should not be complicated is the explanation.
The formula should clearly quantify the major factors that drive funding. How much is based on enrollment? How much is tied to student needs? How much does local tax capacity matter? How are teacher raises incorporated? What happens when enrollment rises or falls?
Those answers should not require a degree in public finance.
Transparency matters because public education represents one of the largest and most important investments Louisiana makes every year. We are talking about billions of taxpayer dollars, thousands of teachers and employees, and most importantly, the education of our children.
The truth is, people are more likely to trust a system they can understand.
That does not mean every district will like every outcome. No funding formula will make everyone completely happy. But there is a difference between disagreeing with a formula and not being able to understand it.
Louisiana has an opportunity to build something better. A formula that is sustainable, fair and responsive to the very different circumstances of school districts across our state.
It should also be explainable.
When it comes to making legislative sausage, some complexity may be unavoidable.
But when billions of dollars and the future of our schools are involved, we should at least know what is going into it.
Nobody wants bad sausage.
David Specht is president of Specht Newspapers, Inc., publisher of the Minden Press-Herald, Bossier Press-Tribune, and BIZ Magazine.