YOU'RE INVITED -- YPS Budget and Tax Request Meetings

YOU’RE INVITED!

Our school board and administration remains committed to being very transparent about our budget, property tax request, planning for the future, controlling our spending, etc.

I am hosting two special meetings for anyone that wishes to attend to learn more about school finance and the main cogs of the YPS budget and tax request. FREE coffee and some light snacks will be available to all attendees. Bring a friend! The meetings will take place at our District Administration building at 1715 N. Delaware Avenue on the east side of the York High School campus. These meetings typically last 75-90 minutes.
• Wednesday, August 30th at 8:00 AM
• Friday, September 8th at 8:00 AM

We will show attendees what our 2017-18 budget will look like compared to 2015-16, 2016-17, and other prior years. Our 2016-17 fiscal year ends on August 31st and we will show less than a 0.002% spending increase since 2014-15. Revenue for 2016-17 will be around $700,000 less than 2015-16 despite an increase in our local property tax request of over $1 million.

You’ll also receive an informative update on a coalition that we helped form called “Nebraskans United for Property Tax Reform and Education” that has Nebraska Farmers Union, Nebraska Farm Bureau, and other ag organizations working hand-in-hand with K-12 education organizations on property tax reform and education funding initiatives. Below is a quick snapshot of our guiding principles.
• Nebraska must reduce property taxes to ensure a fair and balanced tax system.
o Nebraska ranks 49th in the country in the percentage of K-12 funding that comes from the state.
o Nebraskans pays the 7th highest effective property tax rate in the nation.
• To fund the state budget, we need a tax system that is fair and balanced for all Nebraska taxpayers. Nebraska’s taxpayers need a significant reduction in property taxes.
o Nebraska K-12 schools receive 33% of their funding from state sources while the national average is 47%.
o Nebraska K-12 schools receive 49% of their funding from local property taxes while the national average is 29%.

If you’re unable to make it on August 30th or September 8th, feel free to come to our board of education meeting on September 11th at 7:00 PM or call me to set up a special time that works for you. We want to communicate at a high level and make sure the patrons of York Public Schools are well informed of what is going on in the world of education funding and an over-reliance on local property taxes.

Go Dukes,

Mike Lucas
402-366-6491 (cell)
mike.lucas@yorkdukes.org