Ash Grove R-IV School District

Finances & Achievements

Dr. Don Christensen

March 2011

Purpose of Meeting

The purpose of this meeting is to give factual information regarding the financial and academic issues facing the school district.

We feel it is important for everyone to know how our district stands financially and to give everyone an opportunity to provide input and ideas regarding our school’s financial plans for the future.

Introduction

Our nation’s and state’s economy has a great impact on school funding.

About half of our school’s educational funding comes from the state.

This year, the state cut our school’s funding by nearly $195,000. $130,000 in regular school funding from the formula $64,837 in funding for transportation (bussing)

Most school districts in the state have had to make cuts– including ours.

The degree of “cuts” made in a district is in direct proportion to the amount of funding each district receives from the state.

Budget Cuts

In order to balance our school budget due to the loss of state revenue, we had to make several budget cuts, and restricted spending for this year– totaling the amount lost in state funding.

Goals in making this year’s cuts: What would least impact the educational

process and student achievement? What could be cut without costing anyone their

full job?

This Year’s Budget Cuts/Reductions

Reduction of PAT program Suspension of Gifted program Reduction in use of copy paper, printers, copy machines All school supply budgets were cut by 10% All athletic budgets were cut by 25% Elementary classes were combined Jr. High Cheerleading was suspended Cut non-teacher hours/programs (cooks, custodial, nurse, etc.) Reduction of early childhood special ed. program Reduction of a special education teaching position Reduction of summer school Didn’t hire students to work in the summer Reduction in purchasing expensive equipment or postponing

scheduled replacement of various items.

Outlook for Next Year

The state will have to cut our school’s basic formula funding by 7%-9% next year. It was cut by only 4% this year.

Our school district will not receive $230,000 to $300,000 which it is due next year in regular school funding because of anticipated state budget cuts.

The state will continue to reduce our transportation funding by nearly $65,000 next year.

Employment (insurance, etc.) and basic school costs (fuel, electricity, gas, etc.) continue to increase also.

To overcome these issues, our school must make additional budget reductions and/or find new sources of revenue to balance our school’s budget.

Next Year’s Budget Cuts

Knowing that our school’s budget will be cut next year, we have already made some cuts for next year, which include: Didn’t replace our retiring elementary librarian. Didn’t replace a retiring custodian. Will be moving the pre-school to Ash Grove Elementary to

save rental costs. Didn’t hire a summer school coordinator. Principals will take

care of their own summer school programs. Set strict temperature settings on building thermostats. Reduced expenditures for some forms of professional

development. May reassign various teachers and aides to match student

numbers. Have not increased the teacher base pay for two years.

Applying for School Grants

To help offset the growing costs and underfunding of our school, we have worked hard to look for various grants and subsidies available to us. We applied for and gained a grant that allows us to feed

every summer school student a free breakfast and lunch. We applied for and gained a grant that allowed us to sell our

school bonds at a 0% interest rate– saving our patrons tens of thousands of dollars in interest payments.

We are in the process of pursuing a $600,000 FEMA grant which would build a “safe-room” which could be used by the school and all community members in cases of severe weather.

We were recently awarded grant money to pay for converting old office space into a “transition” classroom for special needs students.

Applying for School Grants Have you seen this vehicle? The school has to transport a special needs student to Springfield every

day. The school applied for and was awarded a grant which totally paid for this vehicle– saving us from having to use a large bus to transport a student and allowing us to use this vehicle to transport small numbers of students to various activities when this vehicle isn’t already is use.

Not only did this vehicle cost our school no money to purchase, it saves the district thousands of dollars each year in transportation costs.

Success Despite Budget Cuts

For the 10th year in a row, our district was awarded “Distinction in Performance” due to our high test scores and academic performance. Only 25 out of the 523 school districts in the state have done this.

With local support, grants, and budget allocation we’ve been able to put SmartBoard technology in most classrooms.

Our school’s attendance and graduation rates are among the highest in the state.

Per-Pupil Spending

There is typically a direct correlation between the amount spent per student, and the quality of education that each student receives.

Our school and student successes are very surprising because of the 523 school districts in the state, we rank 519th in per-student spending.

There are only four school districts in the entire state that spend less on educating each student than we do in the Ash Grove School District.

Per-Pupil Spending in Area Schools

Miller: $9,287 Morrisville: $7,701

Everton: $9,152 Skyline: $7,455 Greenfield: $8,238 Willard: $7,443Walnut Grove: $8,055 Pleasant Hope: $7,242Stockton: $7,562 Strafford: $6,905Fair Grove: $7,501 Ash Grove: $6,517

The average per-pupil spending of the 25 schools that have received Distinction in Performance designation for all 10 years: $9,648

It is incredible that our dedicated teachers and staff have been able to achieve such results from our students while spending$3,000 less to educate each student than these other schools!

Proposition C: What is it?

Proposition C was a 1 cent sales tax instituted in 1982 to support education in the state of Missouri.

The proceeds of this sales tax revenue are collected by the state and distributed to each school district based upon the number of students attending each district.

In 1994, every school district was required to have a minimum operating school tax levy of $2.75. At that time, schools could either only allow the minimum levy of $2.75 or allow the district to levy up to its tax rate ceiling.

Proposition C: What is it?

Our patrons chose to only allow the district to levy the minimum required by law: $2.75.

As a result, our district was required to “pay back” to its patrons one half of that sales tax revenue.

The only mechanism available to schools is through its property tax school levy. So schools had to reduce their school tax levy from their tax rate ceiling to the minimum $2.75.

The Ash Grove School’s “roll back” has been around 33 cents for several years.

Ash Grove School Tax Rates

For many years, the Ash Grove School District has had a full tax rate of $3.25.

We’ve had an operating levy of $2.75 which pays for the day to day operation of the school.

We’ve had a debt service levy (which pays off school bonds for capital improvements) of $.50

By “waiving” the current roll back in our property tax rates, our operating levy will increase from $2.75 to approximately $3.08 (per $100 of assessed valuation).

No local tax money currently goes towards paying teachers salaries and benefits– and that will still be the case. The increased revenues which the school will receive will continue to pay for the ongoing costs associated with running a school– besides teachers’ salaries.

Total Tax Rates of Area Schools

Clever: $4.34 Everton: $3.83

Nixa: $4.31 Pleasant Hope: $3.77

Republic: $4.18 Fair Grove: $3.65

Ozark: $4.14 Marionville: $3.56

Willard: $3.99 Skyline: $3.55

Miller: $3.99 Greenfield: $3.50

Rogersville: $3.94 Ash Grove: $3.25

How Tax Rates are Calculated

Residential property is taxed at 19% Agricultural property is taxed at 12% If we were to get rid of the “roll back” a home-owner

with an assessed valuation of $100,000 would calculate their additional $.32 per $100 of assessed valuation in property tax levy like this:

100,000 x .19 = 19,000

19,000 x .32 = 6,080

6080 divided by 100 = $60.80

Full Tax Levy

If Ash Grove Schools were to stop “rolling back” its operating levy, it would still have one of the lowest total tax rates in the area:

Clever: $4.34 Everton: $3.83Nixa: $4.31 Pleasant Hope: $3.77Republic: $4.18 Fair Grove: $3.65Ozark: $4.14 Ash Grove: $3.58Willard: $3.99 Marionville: $3.56Miller: $3.99 Skyline: $3.55

Rogersville: $3.94 Greenfield: $3.50

Full Tax Levy

If the Ash Grove School District were able to levy the full amount ($3.58 vs. 3.25), it would generate an additional $165,000 in revenue to support school programs.

Since our school faces a financial shortfall next year of between $230,000 and $300,000– the additional revenue would mean less drastic cuts to academic and other school programs.

Questions?

Should we be proud of the fact that our district supports it school financially less than almost every other school district in the state?

When our school is already operating with minimal financial resources, what remains to be cut that doesn’t directly impact student achievement and learning?

Can Ash Grove maintain its high level of academic achievement when it has nearly the least amount of financial backing per student?

Could the average family afford to pay an additional $61 a year to support their school– about $5 per month?