WHTA MESSAGE REGARDING THE EDUCATION BUDGET
Hello Fellow Taxpayers,
Many
of you have inquired about the per pupil spending issue for West Hartford
Schools. Below is some information that I have prepared with some help
from one of our members who would like to remain unnamed, but, is a
professional in the public school industry. He has given me the formula which
the school systems use to determine just how much money is necessary to fund
education budgets. I hope this will help you to explain to the public
what is happening with the town and education budgets.
It
is important to understand that, while the town is reducing the proposed budget
for next year, there is no “reduction” in the budget. The budget
is still increasing at a rate greater than the reported rate of inflation.
In this current year, the school budget is $113,484,216, for 9,936
students. This works out to $11,422 per student. For next
year, the town is projecting a slight decrease in the number of students
to 9,927. The currently proposed school budget is $118,296,941. That
works out to $11,917 per student. So, the currently proposed
budget, which is being described as draconian, in truth provides for an overall
increase of around 4.25%, and an increase in spending per pupil of around
4.33%.
These
are numbers that people can understand. How many taxpayers in
One
issue is that school employees, including administrators, are getting increases
in salary and benefits which are greater than 4.25%. This is an area
where the town could have taken a firmer stand, but did not. Further,
there are a number of expenses that the WHTA has identified which should be
considered for reductions or elimination. This process has been extremely
difficult, since the town has refused to provide us with an itemized,
line-by-line education budget. For example, we have not even been able to
determine what the school superintendent, (et al.) gets paid, clear detailed
expenditures for School expansions, and the plan for new employees;
particularly about the 2 new assistant principals, and the Retired principal at
Conard, who is retiring after only 7 years with full
benefits and getting rehired as a Consultant with a salary of $145,000!
Regardless,
some will argue that we can’t risk hurting our schools, however, when we look
at the numbers below, we can clearly see how this argument is a fallacy.
For
the current fiscal year 2006-2007 (which ends June 30, 2007), the town is
spending $196,427,546. Of this amount, $113,484,216 is for the
schools. In recent years, these numbers had been increasing at an average
rate of approximately 6% annually.
For
the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2007, the town initially proposed
increasing the budget to over $209,315,446, with $122,096,941 of that for the
schools. This would have been a 6.6% increase overall, and an increase in
the school budget of 7.6%. Coupled with the effects of revaluation, this
would have meant enormous increases for many homeowners.
In
response to the efforts of the West Hartford Taxpayers Association and others,
the town finally acknowledged that these increases would have been intolerable
for the residents of the town, and came up with a new budget proposal.
The Town Council adopted a new proposed budget of $203,271,186.
Even
with the Town Council’s request to reduce the proposed budget by $1.8 million,
the school budget is increasing, not decreasing. They are in fact, not cutting
the budget; they are cutting an inflated number, which should be cut back even
further, by at least $1.5 million more.
Here’s why:
Let’s start
with the Education budget numbers.
2006-07 Budget
$ 113,484,216
2007-08 Superintendent's
Budget $ 122,096,941 or 7.59% increase
2007-08 Board's
Reduced Budget $ 120,138,941 or 5.86% increase
2007-08
Town Council's Adopted Budget $ 118,296,941 or 4.24% increase from last year
(featuring $1.8 million in requested cuts)
Savings needed
to reach the Town Council's Budget $ 1,842,000.
Let’s look at
enrollments and Per Pupil Expenditures.
The Board of Ed and the Town
Council’s population counts contradict each other:
- According to the BOE at the
last meeting prior to the budget hearings Chip Ward reported his latest figures
being: +38 students
Births have declined
K-5 = increased by 21 students
6-8 = declined by 54 students
9-12 = increased by 17 students
Total
student population has decreased by 9 students
- According to the Town Council:
Our population has increased in total by: 109 students (K-12)
Total student population: 06/07 =
9,936 07/08 =
9,927
· A decrease of 9
students for the 07/08 budget cycle - and these figures include an
additional 7 public school choice students from
· In reality, West Hartford’s student population has
decreased by a total of 16
· This is a significant issue when our town only receives approximately
$2K for each of these open school choice students. This means we will
be funding these students on average approximately $9,917 per student =
$833,028. ( 84 x 9,917)
According
the PPE (Per Pupil Expenditures) Formula:
School Budget
for 06/07 = $113,484,216 divided by 9,936 (# of students) = $11,421.52 (PPE)
If we apply a
3% increase on the PPE from last year we get
$11,421.52 (PPE) x 1.03 (3% increase) =
$11,764.17(PPE)
If
we then apply the increased PPE to the projected number of students for 07/08
we get this:
$11,764.17 (PPE) x 9,927 (projected # of students for 07/08) = $116,782,915.59
The Proposed
07/08 School Budget is this: $118,296,941 and represents $11,917 (PPE) an increase of 4.3%
So Our BOE budget is over budget by $1,514,025.41
This
number does not even consider cutting out the additional 7 open school choice
students.
Because
Please
feel free to use this as a reference to consider testifying at the Board of
Education Public Hearing on May 28th.
Sincerely,
Theresa
McGrath
President