Evansville Observer: Watercooler: School Board: "The budget problems that school districts face today are the fault of our state legislators." Agree, Disagree? explain.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Watercooler: School Board: "The budget problems that school districts face today are the fault of our state legislators." Agree, Disagree? explain.

1 comment:

The Evansville Observer7:37 PM
Richard Woulfe--School board candidate---

Before I discuss the “budget problems” it would be good to review what exactly our district faced in the past 12 months.

On revenue---Taxpayers may not realize that taxpayer revenue to the district---prop tax, TIF, mobil home fees) DECLINED $221,455 year to year. Translate that as CUT in pay for district.

Then, utility bills went up $236,771. OUCH
Then the District dipped into savings $279,964. OUCH

The District did cut expenses $180,000.

This is not a picture where we can continue as in the past. We cannot propose a zero increase budget precisely because it will not work. The past only caused a big dip into savings. We need to cut to survive.

Yes---there is blame to the state legislature-- However one cannot see when this will change. The challenge for us now is to hold to the core essentials and not make the matter worse. The School needs to actively engage the public to understand the challenge to be faced. We need to define together the core to be protected and devise a strategy to use fees to keep options open for parents for the extras. We need to see the problem---and not deny that the time is NOW to confront it together.

The state formula with its “rolling average” tries to help those districts that are suffering from falling enrollment. This formula harms districts like Evansville by making us wait 3 years to get the full funding for each new student. 1/3, 2/3, 3/3. That means if we get 30 students new we only get state funding for 10 the first year, despite having to provide teaching for 30.

So--no one person in Evansville is to blame for this. However, we have a challenge to bring the community together to understand the enormity of this challenge to the schools. I hope to play a role in engaging the public in this discussion if I am elected to the school board.
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