Mythbusters: School Tax Edition

Got this comment on CSDWeAllWin’s Facebook page today.

Today I had a friend say all the programs and cuts Christina school district was making is nuts. All because people wont sign a referendum. My answer was Christina School district asked for almost 100% raise in funding on their first attempt. This was highway robbery. They then asked for I believe a 15% increase and it was shot down… You know why??? Everyone I talked to who googled the referendum, saw the previous request. They thought their taxes were doubling. The district did this to its self… So lets do a little math and see if the money is spent correctly. 2014 budget 228 million dollars. 16255 students. That is $14,026.45 / student. I googled the “average private school tuition 19711″… the answer was $11970.00. If it can be funded privately for 2000 less per student and provide a better education… Something isn’t adding up. We cant continue to throw money at a mismanaged program. I really don’t want to hear go to a budget meeting. I want to hear my math is either incorrect or why we should pay $2000.00 more per student for your education. What is better? I’m beginning to think the whole system should be private. Talk me off this ledge please.

So let’s go.  Sorry they don’t want to hear “go to a budget meeting”.  But GO TO A BUDGET MEETING!  Public school finances are too damn complex to talk about on Facebook and really get a solid handle on them.  But why not try again?

Their math isn’t wrong but it is the wrong kind of math. Districts do not determine per student funding by adding up the budget and dividing by the number of kids enrolled, although that seems like a much better way to do it than the way it’s done now.

Christina, and all districts in Delaware, have little control over how much money is spent on each student. Nearly all the formulas used to figure that out come directly from the State of Delaware. However much money the State determines each student “deserves” *in total*, Christina foots approximately 35% of it through property taxes.

In previous years, the District was responsible for <30% of the cost. Over the last 8 years the State has continued to chip away at the amount of money spent on education. This year is no different. The State raised the amount each student must get by 0.52% and at the same time said they wouldn’t be funding that increase, which means local money from each District has to cover that increase.

Christina School District per student general ed funding

This is the breakdown of our non-special services, regular education per student funding for 2015-16 school year. This is the amount of money, collected through our property taxes, that Christina School District spends per student. We, in this District, do not pay $14,000 per student. We pay an average of $3,913 per student in grades K-12. So what the hell is that $13,000 cost per student number you find on the District profile on Delaware Dept of Ed’s website? That’s an average of ALL sources of funding for our students, that’s all money that comes from the State + all money that comes from the District + all money that comes via the Federal gov’t that rolls up to an AVERAGE cost per student in our District.  It is NOT what we pay from property taxes per student.

You can pay $12,000 to send your child to a private school in Newark. But you, the parent, are paying that entire $12,000 for your child. Send your child to a public school, and you’re paying a fraction of what it costs to deliver an education to your child.

My property tax bill for schools last year (on my $189,000 townhome assessed at $50,000 ) was around $1,120. I have two children in the District. I paid $560 in taxes for each of their educations last year. If I had both of them in private school, my school tax would still have been $1,120. Plus $24,000 for private tuition. I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell can’t afford $25,120 a year for school right now.

The current total *school tax* rate is $2.09/$100 assessed value of property. Of that $2.09, $1.42 of it is the *Operating Tax* rate. The Operating Tax rate is what was up for referendum twice. (I won’t get into the New Castle County Tax Pool dipping into that $1.42, that’s another discussion).

The first increase that the BOARD wanted (not the District) was, I believe, $0.65 phased in over 3 years. OMG THAT’S 46% INCREASE IN TAX……RATE. Increase in your tax RATE. That does NOT = a 46% increase in your taxes paid. Why?

Let’s say that $0.65 was approved, and it all went into effect right away. The rate went from $2.09 to $2.74. The tax RATE is now $2.74/$100 of assessed value. For my house @ $50,000, my NEW school tax bill this year would be: $50,000/$100 = 500. 500 x $2.74 = $1,370

$1,370 is not double of $1,120. So what % increase is that in my ACTUAL taxes paid? $1,370-$1,120= $250 $250/$1,120 = 0.223 x 100 = 22.3% increase. Not even close to doubling.

Well we know the first time failed hard. So what if the second time passed? The DISTRICT asked for and the Board approved a $0.37 increase phased in over 3 years. Let’s take the same scenario. It passed, and all $0.37 went in right away. Our new tax RATE is $2.46/$100.

My new tax bill is: $50,000/$100 = 500. 500 x $2.46 = $1,230. Well how much did it go up this time?! $1,230-$1,120= $110. $110/$1,120 = 0.098 x 100 = 9.8% tax increase. Again, not even close to doubling.

Again, total budget/# students isn’t wrong math but it doesn’t do jack to help figure out how we spend money per-student and whether or not the money is being spent “correctly”.

I said before, during, and now after the referendum, I’m available to talk to anyone about this. I’ll answer any question you throw at me. If you don’t want to come to a budget meeting (although you should), I’ll come to you. Public school finances in this State are not easy to understand. It’s way too damn complex, but I’m willing to help anyone get a better understanding of it. Google won’t do anything for you. Talk to someone who actually knows something about how it works (or doesn’t work).

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Credit Where It’s Due

Last night 6 of Christina’s Board of Education members did something extremely unsavory yet equally necessary.  The preliminary budget for 2015-16 was approved with all proposed reductions, some of which are shown here.  In what undoubtedly be one of the most challenging years in this District’s history, the Board did make the call when they had to and for that, I thank them.

Notable reductions, as mentioned by CFO Silber last night, School resource officers utilization will take the form of 1 officer in each high school, 1 officer within the City of Wilmington to be shared by Bayard Middle and Sarah Pyle, and 1 officer to be shared by the 4 middle schools in the Newark area.

Elementary counselors will have their utilization changed as well.   Each elementary school will have a counselor, but the days and hours the counselor is present will change from full-day and full-week hours.

EPER pay: the same number and type of EPER positions will be available in the District. The amount of funding to fill them will be reduced by $629,000 leaving around $900,000 to be allocated to the schools for use in filling some of the positions. The decisions on what positions will be filled is up to the each school’s leader.

As I mentioned previously, building discretionary budgets are reduced by approximately $800,000

Management and payment of all leases for multi-function copier machines has now been taken off the schools and will be paid and managed by the District business office.  Previously each school made payments for their copiers out of their building budgets.  That will not be the case this year.  Speaking of which, if you or anyone you know works in a CSD building with a leased Canon copier/printer, tell them to send all their print jobs to and do all their copying on those machines.  The lease agreements & payments with Canon cover all expenses associated with those machines except paper.  Any other printer, the District is responsible for toner, maintenance/replacement, paper, ink, etc.  Seems silly at first but toner and printers are expensive and that adds up quickly in schools.

Anyway, the analysis and breakdowns will continue.  Right now I’m trying to find someone to start an IV drip of caffeine for me.

Belting it Out

About the line item detail expenses for a school district in Delaware, where do you find them?!  The answer is:

1. A myriad of sources supply funds for just about everything and everyone in the district, there is no “single” stream of revenue. Example: $100 of a teacher’s salary may actually be $60 from the State of Delaware and $40 from local property taxes.  Or depending on the type of teacher or program they are in that $100 might be: $45 State, $45 Local, $10 Federal.  Those funding splits change all the time.  So it’s darn near impossible to continually list the splits in every document published.
2. The way the State reports District expenses is not exactly how the District reports and expends money. (That online checkbook?  Garbage. Don’t even look at it).  District Data is substantially more accurate than the State’s.
3. Different departments and operating units in the District spend funds on the same services and each unit must report its own expenses individually so they may then be rolled up to final budget totals.

Ever wonder why the federal government’s budget is thousands of pages long?  Let’s hit point #3:  Everyone has to report everything they plan to spend money on.  Money is only spent on things listed in the final budget for the district that is approved by the Board of Education every year.

Stay with me here:   Let’s visualize how Christina School District is organized in terms of the purchasing things.  Think of a tree from the trunk on up to the very tippy top branch.  Now, turn the tree upside down so the trunk is at the top and all the branches are below.  The trunk is Christina School District.  Where the trunk first divides into the real thick branches are the largest operating units within CSD:  Education, Finance, and Facilities.   We’ll climb down the Education branch called the Chief Academic Officer (Deputy Superintendent).

Following down the branch it divides into 4 smaller branches:  Elementary Ed, Secondary Ed, Special Services, Enrichment.   Down the Elementary Ed branch it divides into 24 smaller branches called Elementary School Principals.   Now we’re at the bottom of the upside down tree.  At any dividing point along the tree from the trunk on down to last branch, money can be expended and it can be expended on many of the same things (copy paper, for example).  Where each branch divides is a purchase point.

To help keep all those branches straight, we’ll assign a 5 digit account code to each one so we know which branch is which.  Now, let’s say every single account code (branch) needs a ream of paper.  How does CSD (the trunk) keep track of who needs the paper, where to send it and how much is needed?  Each branch sends a requisition for paper  with their account code up to the trunk.  The District sends out for the paper and it’s brought to the branch that ordered it.  Now apply that process for absolutely everything purchased in the District.   Requisitions sent from individual account codes to the District, District converts to purchase orders (read: buys the stuff) and it is delivered to the account that ordered it.

Keene Elementary requires copy paper.  The building leader sends a requisition for copy paper to the Director of Elementary Ed, then it goes to the Deputy Superintendent (these steps happen quickly) and over to the Chief Financial Officer.  If the requisition is for something listed in the Board approved budget (copy paper is definitely in there), it is changed to a purchase order and Keene gets its paper delivered.  If it is NOT for something in the budget or is for a larger than normal quantity of something in the budget, a conversation happens between the CFO’s office and the building leader regarding the need for the requisition.   That’s how it goes for everything, including things like contracted services and consultants.

The Final Budget is all the individual account code expenses rolled up into a relatively short list of annual totals.  Monthly financial reports are the monthly expenses of that relatively short list of items and account codes.

You still don’t know exactly where to find individual line item expenses yet, do you?   That’s not a coincidence.  There’s WAY more to this than meets the eye.  Which is why I shoot down the argument comparing School District finances to household budgets or personal checking accounts every single time I hear it.  Just cinch the District’s belt, right?   Which belt?  There are 267 of them. Ok, there may not be that many but there are a lot!  Stay tuned!

 

Ask For What You Seek

I was kinda proud of this response I posted to Facebook, so I thought I’d share it here. It relates to the Operating Referendum for Christina School District on May 27th.

A question was asked about where the money goes and why there isn’t an understandable budget for people to see, etc.  This was my response:

I’m a Dad of 2 boys at Keene Elementary, I’m working with our all-volunteer Referendum Committee and for the last year and a half, I have served on the all-volunteer Citizen’s Budget Oversight Committee (CBOC) for the Christina School District and its Board of Education, as of Wednesday I also serve on the new Expense Reduction Committee (ERC) for the District and its Board.   CBOC is a legally required entity charged with ensuring the District is expending its Board approved budget appropriately.

The current State required funding process for all 19 public school districts mandates that an Operating Tax increase of any amount requires a public vote.  This sets *every* District up to hold referenda every 3-5 years to generate additional Operating revenue to pay for rising costs that Districts largely have no  control over.  Costs like energy, water, bus transportation to get students from home to school and school to home, supplies that go into the classrooms (paper, pencils, etc).  The District does have control over another area Operating Tax revenue is spent: portions of staff employment costs like salary, medical, prescription, vision and dental benefits, and the ENTIRE cost for staff and supplies in programs the State does not feel are worth funding on their part: Art, Music, Drama, and Phys Ed instructors, Librarians, School Nurses, textbooks.  83% of the funds generated via the Operating Tax are spent on student service personnel.  The remaining 17% largely goes to supply (including electricity, water, internet, transportation, classroom supplies, etc) needs at the individual school level.

“Fixing” the funding issue is a very high-priority item and I 100% agree it must be done.  Problem is, all Districts are required to follow State funding requirements.  The broken process is owned by the State of Delaware and any fixing has to come out of Dover with legislation.  For this referendum we are working within the severely complicated and restrictive confines of current public education funding regulations.  Would it be great to just cut things here and there that we all feel provide no value and use that money to fix the looming deficit?  Heck yeah it would.  But we can’t do that.  The only revenue the District has to spend on things that are not required by the State or Federal Gov’ts are the Unrestricted Local Funds generated by Property Taxes.  That is where our shortfall is and we are unable to move other money around to cover it.  For the last 3 years, the District has been using operating cash reserves to compensate for the inadequate operating revenue coming in.  Next year, what remains in reserve will not be enough to cover the operating expenses listed above; it will be short by approximately $9.5 million.  We are at a breaking point where we have to ask the public to raise revenue to keep things going as they are (tried in Feb with Option 1), make spending cuts and ask for a smaller tax increase (happening now, $2 million in cuts ant $0.37 increase) or eliminate the shortfall entirely by cutting operating expenditures by $9.5 million.

For the last 3 years, CBOC in its monthly meetings and reports to the Board of Education has consistently been noting this snowballing budget shortfall and that it is not due to mismanagement of funds, but largely uncontrollable rising costs.  We have indicated, consistently, that without increasing funding reductions an operating referendum will be needed prior to the start of School Year 2015-2016.  The authorization for referendum did not come from the Board until late last year.  February failed, and there is a mandatory 60 day wait until another vote.  Board authorization for this vote came in February, and the absolute last time we could hold a vote and still have it impact the school year starting this fall, is next week.

As far as an understandable budget, with the way public education funding is done in Delaware it’s 99.999% impossible to condense a District budget to the point where it still accurately shows very, very detailed spending (what you are asking for) and isn’t 250 pages long.  However, CBOC exists for this very purpose.  We serve as the ‘translators’ for the ridiculous process Districts have to go through for funding to aid in the general public and Board of Education’s understanding of what is spent where and why.

To that end, I’m offering my service to you and ANY member of the public to help you gain a better understanding of the funding process, why things are done the way they’re done and where the money comes from and goes to.  It took me a good 8-10 months to really grasp why things are the way they are, and I am more than willing to help you and anyone else grasp it like I, and the rest of CBOC has.  I’ll meet for coffee, just to talk, or email/text back and forth.

CBOC’s next meeting, which is and always has been open to the public, is 6:30pm on either Wednesday June 17th or June 24th at Gauger-Cobbs Middle.  Schedule is announced on CSD’s webpage.  If you friend me on Facebook, I talk about it all the time.

ERC’s next meeting is next Thursday, May 28th 6:30pm at Gauger-Cobbs in the Professional Development Room.  Open to the public.  Questions welcome.

Our volunteer committee is running a website that focuses on info surrounding the referendum CSDWeAllWin.org, and a Facebook page: facebook.com/CSDWeAllWin

*ALL* district financial data is and has been available on CSD’s website, including CBOC reports, http://www.christinak12.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=195038&type=d&termREC_ID=&pREC_ID=393370

brianstephan@gmail.com or 302.419.5276.  If I miss your call or if you text me just let me know who you are in the voicemail or text and I will return your call or messages/emails.

 

Big Hero Six(teen)

What started out as a typical meeting of 5 CBOC members quickly swelled to a very crowded 16 person meeting.  In the year and a half I’ve served on CBOC, this was the first time we’ve had more than 6 people in the room for a meeting, the first time we’ve had more than one teacher (3 this time!), parents, several retired persons who have grown children that went through the district and want to help make things better, two professors, and a parent who has children in the Charter system and an aunt who wants to see CSD get better because her niece is in the district.  All crammed into a room that was too small with a 52 page financial report and dozens of questions.

We had questions about what our taxes do for the district, how charters get funded, how much we’re spending (or not spending, as is the case) on purchasing new supplies for common core curricula, State of Delaware negotiated pizza contracts, how teachers are simply overwhelmed by the amount of testing and data entry they are required to do and how the district “suddenly” developed a $9 million budget shortfall (Hint: it wasn’t sudden) and exactly what our property taxes fund and do not fund.

Most importantly, we talked about buckets of money.  Yes, I said buckets.  When you have a 52 page financial report in front of you with hundreds of line items under dozens of categories, the best way to make sense of it is to imagine that each bucket has a category label on it.  And the monies that go into each bucket can only be taken out and spent on whatever the label on the bucket says.  That’s how it works in public school financial operations.  I can explain it way more in depth, but you should really come out to our April Citizen’s Budget Oversight Committee meeting to learn more!

The bottom line is, we have interest now.  320% more interest if my memory is serving me up the correct number of guests we had last Wednesday.

There’s a steep uphill climb that we are about to embark on.  The climb begins this Thursday at 6:00pm when the referendum steering committee has its first meeting.  Word is, I have an “in” with one of the co-chairs of the committee. Looking forward to getting to work!

3 Months Later

Hey, where did those last 3 months go?  Let’s see, what’s transpired since my last post.  Red Clay and Christina went out for referendums in February.  Red Clay’s passed, Christina’s was mauled by a bear.  Red Clay did a FANTASTIC job of marketing, advertising and selling their referendum to their residents, students and staff.  Christina…did not.  Red Clay celebrated on Feb 24th.  Christina did not. Christina inked a deal with DDoE to retain control of their three “priority” schools through 2015-16 keeping all staff and leadership but adding assistant principals to each school who will *not* report to the principal they work under.  Instead they will report directly to DDoE.  Can’t see that causing any problems.  Plans to redistrict Christina out of Wilmington are moving forward but they still hinge on the General Assembly to rewrite the laws.  If that does happen, Red Clay gets 3 new inner-city schools from Christina.  Get your popcorn, I’m sure this is far from done.

Christina’s Board of Education passed a resolution submitted by Board Member Paige last night (5-2) protecting students from “retaliation” if their parents opt them out of State assessments.  Colonial’s Board followed suit, too.  From Exceptional Delaware:

“If this board can’t stand for parents, what the hell can it stand for?” -John Young

After fiery debate by board member George Evans, the Christina Board of Education passed a parent opt out resolution by a vote of 5-2.  The no votes came from President Fred Polaski and eternal board member George Evans.  The amended resolution was scaled back to focus on parental right to opt out of the standardized assessment, which in Delaware is the Smarter Balanced Assessment.

Christina School District Board of Education Resolution on Parent Opt-Out of Standardized Testing

Be it resolved that the Christina School District Board of Education will support a parent’s decision to opt their child(ren) out of standardized state testing without any repercussions from the ChristinaSchool District; and, therefore,

Be it further resolved that the Christina School District Board of Education will support the Superintendent to provide direction to all affected schools to provide meaningful, educational activities to replace testing time for those students who will not be participating in standardized testing.

Christina’s Board of Ed also approved May 27th as the next try for an operating referendum and let me tell you the proverbial mud is already being slung on social media by residents of the district who appear to be less than informed about how a public school district operates and is financed.  During “Referendum: Part I” in February, I spent a LOT of time on social media trying to share information about this very subject.  Some welcomed that effort.  Others did…not.   I’m at it again though, with Part II.  I refuse to sit down and shut up because people don’t know what they’re talking about.  I’m not a teacher but I’m gonna play one for this referendum.

Other news about the referendum: CSD is asking for volunteers to be part of committees that will be formed to work on the referendum process.  If you are interested and want to volunteer some time, from CSD’s Facebook post:

Post by Christina School District.

 CHRISTINA SEEKS VOLUNTEERS TO SERVE ON REFERENDUM COMMITTEE AND SUBCOMMITTEES

The Christina School District seeks volunteers to serve on a Referendum Committee for the District’s Operating Referendum scheduled for Wednesday, May 27. The Operating Referendum seeks funding to support increased costs and to help the District address an anticipated $9 million budget deficit.

All are welcome to serve on the Referendum Committee, and there are no requirements for serving other than an interest in contributing to a successful campaign. Interested individuals are asked to send an email with name, address, phone number, and email address to: info@christina.k12.de.us, or to call 302-552-2610. Information may also be faxed to 302-429-5857 or mailed to Christina School District Referendum Committee, C/O Public Information Office, 600 North Lombard Street, Wilmington, DE 19801.

Please send information by March 23 in order to receive all future notifications. A Kick-Off meeting of the Referendum Committee is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 26 at 6:00 p.m. at the Eden Support Services Center in Bear.

I’m in.  Are you?

Next CBOC meeting is March 18.  6:30pm at Gauger-Cobbs Middle in the professional library.  I can say we’ll have some new attendees for this one.  It’ll be good to (finally) see some new faces!

What’s The Priority?

In the ongoing battle between Governor Markell and his Secretary of Education Mark Murphy with the Christina and Red Clay Consolidated School Districts over the 6 “priority schools”, an Op Ed surfaced on delawareonline.com last weekend written by Secretary Murphy.  The synopsis is that he and the Department of Education know exactly what’s needed to turn around the 6 ‘priority’ schools without sharing very many details other than the provision of throwing $6 million at the schools over 4 years (with $160,000k/year earmarked for new principals at each school) to help pay for whatever they have in mind.

Without going through the entire Op Ed, let me just say this.  The Christina community, administration and Board of Education have been working tirelessly to create plans for all 3 of our “priority” schools.  Emphasis on Christina community (which includes parents, teachers, building leaders, citizens, etc).  The plan isn’t done yet, but it’s closer now than it was 2 months ago.  All we’re hearing out of Dover is barking about meeting the arbitrary January 7 deadline to have the final plan submitted for review.  There haven’t been any constructive contributions from DOE, the Secretary or the Governor all of whom have been repeatedly asked to participate in the development of the plans for Stubbs, Bancroft and Bayard.  If you say you want to help then decline each opportunity to do so, are you sure you actually want to help?

In other news, last night Red Clay’s Board voted 6-1 to approve DOE’s MOU before actually having a plan for their “priority” schools in place, and before actually engaging their residents, teachers, parents, or anyone else.  That seems backwards to me.  Contrast with what Christina is doing before accepting the MOU:  bringing parents, teachers, principals, district administration, citizens and the Board of Education together to develop plans for each school, and really focusing on finalizing the plan and then submitting it to DOE for review and future collaborative efforts.  Plans are coming together, but Dover is hammering on the January 7th deadline for having the plans submitted.  The CSD Board of Education is of the opinion that we should take our time to make sure we prepare absolute best of the best for these school turnaround plan and if that means we go past January 7th, so be it.  The kids deserve it.

What I’m getting out of this as a resident of the Christina School District with 2 kids currently in the district and as someone who serves on Christina’s CBOC is DOE, Governor Markell and Secretary Murphy want you to agree to their nonspecific terms before they’re willing to engage and participate.  Should we all be working together?  Yes.  If you agree to someone’s ultimatum before getting to work, are you really working together?  I don’t typically sign a contract until I know exactly what’s written in it and I’m not sure why Dover is asking our district to do just that.

So what is DOE’s priority here?  Working with the districts and communities to do what’s best for these kids?  Or just getting the districts to agree and go along with what they have in mind?

Just One Question

What do you want your public schools to be?

We know public school student achievement isn’t what it should be or could be in Delaware.  We know about the rising influence of charter schools.  But what do we know about making changes to our public schools to improve student achievement?  What should we emphasize?  What should we keep, what should we remove, what should we start doing?  What do you want your public schools to be?

Tonight was the first public workshop for the Christina School District on the subject of an operating referendum (a special election held to approve tax increases to bring in more funding for the schools),  Expect to hear more about it at the upcoming Board of Education public meeting on November 18th.  There was great discussion from members of the District administration, Board of Education, and the Citizens Budget Oversight Committee.  In brief we know the following:

Timeline

• In order for our schools to see any increase in funding for the next school year (2015-2016), the special election must be held prior to July 1, 2015.  Doing so allows the county to adjust the tax rates to collect the funding.
• Holding the election early in the year (no later than March) allows for a “mulligan” if it does not pass.  90 days must pass between special elections.  If the election were held in February, and it failed, another election would be able to be held in May or June (prior to the July 1 deadline to see more funding for the 2015-2016 school year)
• February or March 2015 would be the best bet for when to hold the special election.

Wishlist

• Our schools need more money.  But what will be done with the money?  We were able to generate a “wishlist” of priorities for our children and their schools, not only to keep the students we have but to recruit new students to Christina.
  • Funding for arts and humanities classes (music, art, drama)
  • MAGNET Programs (programs for specialized skill development: fine arts, math, agricultural sciences, software and game programming/development, performing arts)
  • Technology upgrades
  • Expanding the Gifted and Talented programs
  • Special education and individual education plans
  • Funding for school supplies
  • Expanding the Cambridge Program

One thing that was missing from tonight’s meeting?  You.  Your voice.  Your thoughts.  As a taxpayer, your voice counts just as much as anyone else’s and tonight, your voice was missing.  Our public schools can’t be their best without support from the public.  We need your help and your input.  Attend the next Board of Education meeting on November 18th. Attend the next referendum workshop (date: TBD)!  Contact your Board of Education members, sharing your thoughts and ideas (remember: the Board of Education drives our schools and the district where we want them to go!). Talk with your school leaders and teachers, talk with other parents!  It starts with communication and engagement. So I’m asking:

What do you want your public schools to be?

#justonequestion #publiceducation

August 20, 2014 CBOC Meeting

So, I decided to start up a blog about my involvement with the Christina School District’s financial operations.  As you can tell from the “Who Am I?” section of my blog, I serve on the District’s Citizen’s Budget Oversight Committee (CBOC) and I wanted to create a way to get my experience with CBOC out there in the public without writing status update after status update after status update on Facebook.  So I went back to blogging.  It’s been a number of years since I’ve blogged, so bear with me as I get back into the swing of it.  Without further ado:

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Meeting to review the month of July financials for the CSD took place Wednesday August 20, 2014.

This was a pretty easy meeting as far as the financials go.  End of FY2014 and the very beginning of FY2015 left not much to be reviewed in terms of monies in and out of the districts coffers.  Instead, we had a much more interesting discussion about the future financial health of the school district.  Specifically, the very significant need to raise revenues.  The district will need to go out for a capital referendum and an operating referendum in the near future.  In simpler terms, the district needs to raise taxes to pay for building improvements (capital) and to continue to pay the increasing cost of operations (staffing, teachers, transportation).  To do that, a public vote on raising the school taxes must be held.  We’re not even in the pre-planning stages yet to be honest.  The Board of Education has not even formally voted on whether to go out for a referendum or not.  Personally, I’m expecting them to approve it but I just don’t know when.  As with any policy making body, they take their sweet time.  During the last board meeting there was at least some discussion among the present board members and the district Superintendent that a referendum was needed.  All they mentioned was the operating referendum.  The truth of the matter is, the district sorely needs to upgrade its buildings.  Money for paying people to work in the district and money to pay for building upkeep comes from two different “pots” so to speak.  You can’t use operating money to pay for buildings and you can’t use capital money to pay for operations.  So to improve both you have to get taxpayer approval on a “Capital Referendum” and a separate yet equally important “Operating Referendum”.  But we can’t even begin talking about either one until the board decides to vote them.  As any parent of a CSD child will know, the buildings in the district need some help.  For that, we need a capital referendum to pass.

The feeling among CBOC is that during the next School Board meeting (scheduled for September 9th) the board will vote to officially begin the planning process for the referendum.  Like all public elections, this will involve a massive campaign that will touch everyone in the district.  Teachers, administrators, parents, students, everyone.  The first step (depending on which of the referendums the Board approves, hopefully both!)will be scheduling public workshops to get as many people involved in the planning process as possible.  Let’s not put the cart before the horse though.  The board MUST vote on whether to go out for referendums or not.  They’ve been dragging their heels somewhat over the last few months on this issue, but the financial position of the district was made abundantly clear to them at the last meeting.  CSD, in its current state, will not be able to survive without increased revenues.  I’m hoping the board will act on the 9th.

This will be an incredibly delicate and complex project but I’m very excited to be part of it.  I want to be involved as much as I can from the very early planning stages to the education of the general public about what we’re doing and why we need to do it.  I don’t want to say it will be fun, because our schools are in dire need of funds, but I’m anticipating enjoying each part of this process.  Provided the Board does what they need to next month.