Today's date: September 3, 2010
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| ...From the desk of the Superintendent |
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October 6, 2004 |
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| Deron Stender | |
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(This is the third in a series of articles that will be written to help explain referendums before the November election. The articles are submitted by the superintendent of Fulda, Deron Stender.) WHY IS THE BALLOT QUESTION SO LENGTHY? Sometime during the next month, you will receive an information letter from the school district concerning the referendum. Included in this letter will be a sample of the referendum ballot. A sample ballot will also be printed in the newspaper at a future date. I thought I would make a few comments about the ballot in hopes of clarifying the abundance of wording and why the wording may be somewhat confusing. The first, lengthier part of the ballot explains exactly what has been discussed in the past articles I have written. The ballot talks about a new referendum tax rate of . 0.35273 % of market value. The last portion of narrative explains the referendum will be levied for ten years. The actual question where you vote 'yes' or 'no' is shorter, yet may be a little confusing. The last sentence on the ballot states: "By Voting 'Yes' On This Ballot Question, You Are Voting For A Property Tax Increase." This sentence must be on all referendum ballots by law. If the new referendum authority is passed, yes, there would be an increase of taxes compared to not having a referendum. WHY DO REFERENDUM AMOUNTS VARY FROM DISTRICT TO DISTRICT? When we talk about school districts and school finances, it would be logical to assume that most school districts generate approximately the same amount of revenue per pupil as well as spend about the same amount per pupil. In reality, this logical assumption is far from being accurate. In review of the first article I wrote, all districts receive a basic dollar amount per pupil unit. Presently this amount is $4601. Pupil units are calculated by using weighted amounts for different grade levels. Kindergarten students are counted as one half because they traditionally have attended school for only half the time. Elementary students are counted as 1.0 unit and a high school student is counted as 1.3 units. High school students are weighted more because of the additional costs of educating high school students such as chemistry labs, band rooms, football fields, etc. This $4601 per pupil unit is called ìbasic general education revenueî as is the same across the state. This is where the ìsamenessî ends, however. Schools also receive other sources of revenue in the general fund such as: Sparsity revenue, Transportation sparsity, Training & Experience, Special Ed. aid, Compensatory revenue (free and reduced applications), as well as several others. Each of these revenue sources is generated by complicated formulas using demographic factors of each district. In other words, they vary significantly district to district. As an example - Sparsity revenue is additional money given to schools that are large geographically, but sparsely populated. The three main components for the sparsity formula are: square miles in the district, enrollment, and distance to the nearest high school. Two districts that basically have the same square miles and enrollment can vary up to $100,000 in sparsity revenue depending on the location of the high school (distance to the nearest high school). Another example: Compensatory revenue is based on the districtís free and reduced meal participation. If a school district has low participation in the free and reduced meal program, the districtís revenue in this category will be considerably less and such as the case here in Fulda. Our Compensatory funding I minimal compared to neighboring districts. On the expenditure side, the Fulda district has a number of expenditures that are unique to this district that other districts may not have. Fulda has had a large commitment to low class size. We have 5 grades in the elementary school that have two sections. However, we are finding that our small class sizes bear a burden on financial efficiency. Our special education needs continue to grow, even though our enrollment is declining. I could continue to give examples of unique reasons why the Fulda school district has additional costs, costs that many districts do not have. Those unique costs coupled with the fact we receive less money in several revenue categories, due to demographic factors, add up to a need for a referendum. Even with a significantly large referendum amount, inflation and fixed costs continue to eat up the extra money that is raised by the referendum. Referendums have become a necessity for school districts to survive. I guess that is why over 85% of the school districts in Minnesota have referendums. This is the last article of the series. I hope that the information provided to you has been beneficial. I encourage you to attend one of the two Public Meetings scheduled to answer your questions. They are as follows: Tuesday, October 12, Fulda High School Cafeteria @ 7:00 PM Monday, October 18, Fulda High School Cafeteria @ 7:00 PM The future of our children depends on the education they receive today. Please remember to vote on Tuesday, November 2. |
©Fulda Free Press 2010