School Board Not Ready to Commit to Challenges For Change Target
by Nancy Wood,
December 16, 2010, page 6.....

The CCS School Board decided at the December 7 meeting that it cannot commit to meeting the Challenges for Change budget reduction target by the December 15 deadline set by the state.
The target set by the state for CCS is $136,000 below the net (after revenue) spending level for the current year, FY2011. The board does not have enough information about revenues for FY2012 to predict accurately the impact of a cut of that amount.
Revenues depend in part on data not yet available from the state; that data is not expected until January. According to School Board Chair Lynne Jaunich, unknown amounts include special education, transportation, Medicaid and IDEA-B.
Another possible revenue source being explored would be charges for the use of the school building, similar to those levied by other schools in the district. The co-principals have estimated that amount at $32,000. The board is considering how that might affect the local groups who now use the school and the possibility of using a sliding scale.
Another unknown at this time is how the state will use the nearly $19 million it is receiving from the federal government for education. CSSU Superintendent Elaine Pinckney described several possible scenarios for how the money might be distributed to schools, such as through the education fund to reduce property taxes or as direct payments to schools and/or to the teachers’ pension fund.
In a December 1 letter to school boards Governor-elect Peter Shumlin said, “Given the uncertainty around achieving budget reduction targets and allowing for the Legislature to be involved with the determination of how to best allocate the additional $19 million in one-time funds, it seems prudent to work on the expectation of maintaining the current tax rates for 2012 that the acting tax commissioner has recently recommended.” He went on to say, “I know that this year the task before you is even more daunting as you have been asked to meet Act 146’s directive of reducing education spending by $23.2 million in FY2012. I appreciate your understanding of the need to meet this goal and also understand that it may take a little longer to make the kinds of changes necessary to achieve the savings targets. I remain supportive of using the $19 million in additional one-time federal funds as bridge financing over one or two years to accomplish the necessary cost savings. I look forward to working with the Legislature to develop a specific plan in this regard. I do not support using the one-time federal funds for anything other than supporting our schools or lowering property taxes.”
Other information that is not yet available from the state is the common level of appraisal (CLA) and the final number of equalized pupils.
Until accurate revenue figures are available, the board will work from the basis of the operating budget, which is what is voted at Town Meeting. The board has indicated that it expects to be able to stay within the baseline budget, of $6,949,589. This is 1.4 percent less than the $7,047,391 approved in May (on the third vote) for the current year, mainly due to reductions in debt service ($25,867) and Special Education ($93,583).
According to Jaunich, the baseline budget reflects 2 percent projected for salary and benefit cost increases. She said, “This is not what we anticipate as a settlement on any open contract negotiations. We expect to arrive at this figure through some combination of increased salary and benefits costs as well as position eliminations.”
The CLA is calculated annually by the state to determine the equalized tax rates that apply to each school district. Last year Charlotte’s CLA was 100.25%, indicating that properties in Charlotte are appraised in the aggregate at slightly higher than fair market value. A CLA over 100% decreases the statewide tax rates; under 100% it increases the rates. The CLA is determined by a formula that uses local property sales from the prior three years.
The equalized number of students is important, as it is used to determine the average spending per pupil in the formula for Charlotte’s share of statewide taxes. The state’s grant per pupil is set by law at $8,618 for FY2012; the statewide tax rates for Charlotte will be increased proportionately to the amount our per-student cost exceeds that amount.
The spending per equalized student used in the formula for the current year tax calculation was $14,056, increasing the statewide homestead tax rate of $.86 to $1.41 for CCS. The final total education tax rate billed to residents was somewhat less as it is blended with the rate for Charlotte’s share of the CVU budget.