York Public Schools continues to work hard to prepare for an outstanding 2015-16 school year. This commentary is meant to provide our patrons with an update on what our new fiscal year will most likely look like. We have board meetings on August 10th and 24th at 7:00 PM where we will be discussing the budget and tax request for 2015-16. On Monday, September 14th, our school board will host budget and tax request hearings before formally considering and voting on the new budget and tax request. As always, patrons are invited and encouraged to attend.
Around the state there continues to be some false chatter about how public school districts overspend, overtax, and under-deliver. Over the past few months, various spokespersons, lobbyists, and organizations have intentionally singled out school districts as a major culprit for our state’s over-reliance on property taxes. I, for one, am tired of the rhetoric and the scare tactics. Public schools aren’t the problem. We have state mandated spending lids and levy lids that we have to operate within all the while being flexible enough to meet the needs of our ever-changing student demographics. We even get audited annually and are more than happy to deal with any level of accountability that comes our way.
A look at REAL numbers from 2014-15 and 2015-16 pertaining to school district tax requests, total revenue, and total spending
• State Aid for York Public Schools drops from $2,214,816 in 2014-15 to just $1,560,659 for 2015-16
o A decrease of $654,157
• Our general fund tax request is projected to increase from $10,049,495 in 2014-15 to $10,600,000 for 2015-16
o An increase of $550,506 that is a direct result of the $654,157 state aid loss
• Our TOTAL revenue looks to slightly increase from $15,500,000 in 2014-15 to $15,650,000 for 2015-16
o That’s right; the total increase in projected revenue for YPS is just $150,000 (.009%) for 2015-16 despite our property tax request increasing 5.5%.
• We are projecting to spend $15,300,000 during the 2014-15 fiscal year that ends on August 31st and $15,500,000 in 2015-16.
o This is a spending increase of just $200,000 (1.3%)
A look at REAL numbers over the past SEVEN YEARS from 2008-09 through 2015-16 Projections
• York Public School’s general fund property tax request will have grown from $7,067,000 to $10,600,000 over the past seven years for an increase of 50%.
o However, our TOTAL REVENUE will have only grown from $13,907,668 to $15,650,000; which is just 12.5% or an average annual growth of only 1.79%.
• We spent $13,813,663 in 2008-09 and are projected to spend $15,500,000 in 2015-16.
o This is just a 12.2% increase over seven years for an average annual growth of only 1.74%.
o Of this increased spending over the past seven years, $300,000 of it is for grant funded additions to early childhood programming and after-school offerings.
If we wouldn’t have added $300,000 worth of grant funded programming, our total spending would’ve only increased 10% over seven years.
We think our numbers in York speak for themselves. We don’t feel like any business that increases their spending by only 1.7% annually should be classified as an “over spender.” If we’re over-taxing it is only because we have no other sources of revenue to work with. Our current system of school funding doesn’t seem to work that well right now for Nebraska.
We don’t feel we are “under-delivering” either. Over the past seven years, we’ve seen close to a 10% increase in the number of students we serve, and the percentage of our children living in poverty has moved to 45%. Despite this, our school system has been able to increase academic offerings and improve student achievement. We are now offering a game-changing “work certification” program through the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture where our students can earn a diploma and work certification in irrigation technology, diversified agriculture, or chemical application thanks to unique partnerships with Reinke and Central Valley Ag. The percentage of our students that are proficient on state assessments has escalated each year. Our students have some of the best scores in Nebraska on local, state, and national assessments.
We’re very proud to serve the students and patrons of York. We’re always a ‘work in progress’ and looking to get better. Our district-wide theme for 2015-16 is “Find a Way” and that’s what we’re going to continue to do. We’re going to “find a way” to get better for our students and our patrons. We’re going to find a way to keep making a difference!
Go Dukes,
Mike Lucas
mike.lucas@yorkdukes.org
402-362-6655 ext. 4
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