At Wednesday’s (9/14) meeting the Board reviewed the 2011-12 budget that will be presented for approval at the District's Annual Meeting (Oct. 5th). Although the numbers aren’t final until the September enrollment counts and the certification of state aid in October, the estimated general fund expenditures for the year will be $33,753,104. Due to factors including a $650 reduction in the per pupil revenue limit and a $1.4M reduction in state aids, the budget started with a deficit of approximately $2.75M (about 8%) relative to "cost to continue".
The operating fund deficit was closed in three ways:
1)About $900K in cuts that were approved by the board last spring, these include the consolidation of Maywood and Winnequah Elementary schools as well as staff reductions: your student may have noticed larger class sizes, particularly in the high school.
2) Use of $850K in federal ARRA (stimulus bill) funds. The $850K is equal to the cost of about 15 teachers that the district can continue to employ. The ARRA funds have to be used this year and next, we chose to use the entire amount this year.
3) Just over $1M reduction in compensation for the teachers and staff. A teacher will see a reduction in take home pay equal to 12.8% of the health care costs plus half the WRS pension contribution.
Total local property tax collections for general fund revenues are limited by the revenue cap and should be down slightly, but less than 2%.
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4 comments:
All for tax breaks for the rich. Yeah!
That's what the wealthy want. They want us to fight over the scraps, and they're sucking us into believing that's the way it has to be. Put down your tea and WAKE UP PEOPLE!
I thought the Governors "tools" meant we would not have to lay off teachers or increase class sizes???
The district will probably not need to lay off too many teachers. Many will likely resign when they hear what the district will offer them for pay starting next year. The "tool" is that the teachers can no longer bargain for a living wage.
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