Budget

December 2011

Parkland School District is experiencing economic challenges. As it is very early in the budget planning process, my goal is to highlight some key concerns in this article to keep our community informed, but not overwhelmed with details. School finance is a complex issue. We discuss the budget at nearly every School Board meeting (twice monthly) publicly, and I invite any and all community members to attend to obtain further information and listen to our presentations and discussion. We also post Board Highlight reports that capture the handouts and an overview of what has been discussed on our district web site. It is our responsibility to share information with all of you who have invested in the great school system that we call home.

The good news is that our real estate millage (total property value within the school district’s boundary lines) has not been negatively impacted by the economic slump the way that so many other towns have witnessed. For the fourth year, our mill is holding its value. However, it remains stagnant. We are still grappling with real estate assessment appeals, particularly from the commercial/industrial sector, and the losses associated with these assessment appeals have totaled in excess of $4M in the past few years. Couple that with the fact that our commonwealth funding has been rolled back to 2008-09 levels and we expect no increase in the upcoming year as the state tries to rectify its own growing deficit, along with uncertain federal funding streams, we are in a precarious situation for the upcoming school year.

Our School Board and administrative team are working tirelessly behind the scenes to mitigate impact to students who have done nothing to deserve cuts in our current programs. The children are not responsible for the financial crisis that we are in the midst of. New this year, we are working with neighboring school districts to try and share transportation resources for private and non-public school students which we transport to schools outside of our district borders that, by law, we are required to transport students to. This area of transportation accounts for 25% of our transportation budget for which we transport 10% of our students living in the district. We are also in the midst of contract negotiations with our teacher’s union and are hopeful that the end result will be a contract that our community and employees can feel good about in taking the current economic climate into account.

At this point in the budget planning process, our community can expect that we will need to raise taxes to the maximum allowable rate, which is expected to be the 1.7% state base index for Parkland plus allowable exceptions for special education costs and retirement costs. This equates to a total increase of approximately 3.8%. The increase in local taxes (which account for 78% of our budget) for the upcoming year will help make up for our losses in revenue briefly described above as well as pay for the increases required to heat, light and maintain our facilities. On the staffing front, there will be no new positions slated for the next school year. As our eligible teachers announce retirement plans in January, we will weigh carefully whether or not positions will require replacement. In fact, we had a District Administrator leave in December and will not be replacing that position. We also had a District Administrator retire in August and did not replace him. The results do put a strain on our operations, but when we opt not to replace a retiring teacher, it will most likely translate to the fact that class size will grow throughout the school district. We examine our class size regularly and will continue to make decisions that allow us to adhere to our class size guidelines as we consolidate our resources.

I will do everything in my power to maintain the quality of excellence that Parkland has become known for, that our children have cherished, and that our sustained home values have benefitted from. I will maintain my commitment to providing a well-rounded educational program that is not only rich in academic offerings, but also filled with arts and athletic opportunities for our students to take part in because that is what I believe our community expects from Parkland.

In closing, I wish to share with you a note that a former student emailed to the entire staff at Parkland High School this past month. In it, she shared a myriad of amazing opportunities she has had the pleasure of taking part in at college. She closed the note by stating that her professor told her that she is a wonderful student, that she wished she could replicate her in all of her classes and promised to help her plan out how to achieve her goals. She ended her note by stating, “I instantly thought of how I got to this point. I have been successful because of Parkland School District. I will be forever appreciative of the commitment to students that Parkland provides year in and year out.”

We, at Parkland, are all humbled by these comments, but it is why we maintain our vision of “Educating for Success, Inspiring Excellence” for all of the children that walk through our doors and who call Parkland their home.

Sincerely,

Richard T. Sniscak
Superintendent of Schools