Board member Tom Weber has asked the question. Several community members have asked the question (or touched on it) at a public hearing on the budget. What's the answer? Well, first, what's the question?
What does NEXT year's district budget look like?
The state has a biennial budget. Savvy businesses have business plans and projected budgets for future years. Why can't we do that? Oh...sure...district office folks will wave their hands and say that they lack the information. Or that the state only provides them hard numbers in October. Or that the dog ate their homework. Or that they just don't handle provocative questioning all that well. :)Horse pucky!!!
Because the state has a biennial budget we DO have a pretty darn good idea of what state aids we will receive next year. Also, since salaries and fringes comprise 80% of the district budget, and the DISTRICT/SCHOOL BOARD control that, then we have a pretty darn good idea of what we might face there...right? So why can't we at least make some very rough projections? Hey...here's an idea...why don't we have a section on the district homepage that is a running estimate of the current and next fiscal years' budget picture???
We ARE concerned about the 2012-13 budget be cause we DO have a pretty good idea of what aid we'll receive. We may get a bit more next year due to steadily increasing enrollment, but otherwise, the biennial budget does not change. There is also a HUGE spike in the debt levy (you know..paying for those mega schools) due next year. This year our tax levy increased $675K just for the debt service portion of the levy. Next year it increases $1.25M. That alone will means a 2.5% increase in the tax levy next year...without spending one more dime in the general budget.Since the district won't do it...we took a stab at it. As always...we welcome the district to point out our errors by showing us FACTS that dispute them.
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