BY MIKE CETERA
UPDATE 2/5: The School Board voted to put a referendum on the November ballot.
The East Aurora School Board tonight is expected to discuss whether to put a referendum on the November ballot. If board members vote yes, that gives the district plenty of time to make a case for increasing taxes. But will any effort in this district be futile?
Time and again, voters have rejected a tax hike. Some residents say they can't afford it; others say administrators haven't done enough to show they are responsibly managing the district's finances. What, if anything, would make you support a referendum?
Last month, staff writer Heather Gillers outlined the proposed ballot question: The district would seek approval of a $32 million measure that would increase property taxes for a $200,000 home by about $215.
Supporters say passage of a referendum would prevent the district from making large spending cuts. Critics, including two board members, don't favor raising taxes.
But Dee Weaver and Rayanne Carlson, who were elected to the board last year after they spoke out against hiking taxes, questioned whether residents need to pay for the district to balance its budget."I don't see money being saved where it could be," Carlson said.
In October the School Board decided against a February ballot question in part because of Weaver and Carlsons' qualms. But Monday the two were at times drowned out by Farnum, Wells and Board Member Bob McCue, who all leaned strongly toward putting the question on the ballot.
If I remember correctly, when the district wanted to pass the referendum originally they claimed that they needed to cut 2 million dollars for each of the next three years to balance the budget. That totals 6 million dollars.
The district received over 2 million dollars "more than expected" in local property taxes. I understand that I and everybody I know pays property taxes each and every year so I don't understand how the district can claim that they get this "extra money" in property taxes for only one year. Further, the state has allocated $400 per pupil per year in extra funding. This means in a district of 13,000 students, the district will receive an extra 5.2 million dollars per year. The district just a week or so ago announced that a school workers diligence netted the district an additional 1.5 Million Dollars. This totals somewhere between 9 and 10 million dollars per year in extra funding.
Unless the district has given Dr. Roberts a several million dollar raise when becoming superintendent or they have been hiding more severe financial problems from the community, the numbers just don't add up.
They needed to cut 2 million dollars a year to balance the budget and they are receiving nearly 8 million dollars a year more than they were expecting. I know I studied real math (instead of the new math our students now receive) growing up but that should add up to a 6 million dollar surplus.
The only other possibility was that they needed to cut 2 million plus 2 million plus 2 million so that over time they were cutting 6 million a year, in which case we should still have several million dollars in surplus funds this year.
I don't understand how they can still be talking referendum and cutting programs and teachers.
If I remember correctly, when the district wanted to pass the referendum originally they claimed that they needed to cut 2 million dollars for each of the next three years to balance the budget. That totals 6 million dollars.
The district received over 2 million dollars "more than expected" in local property taxes. I understand that I and everybody I know pays property taxes each and every year so I don't understand how the district can claim that they get this "extra money" in property taxes for only one year. Further, the state has allocated $400 per pupil per year in extra funding. This means in a district of 13,000 students, the district will receive an extra 5.2 million dollars per year. The district just a week or so ago announced that a school workers diligence netted the district an additional 1.5 Million Dollars. This totals somewhere between 9 and 10 million dollars per year in extra funding.
Unless the district has given Dr. Roberts a several million dollar raise when becoming superintendent or they have been hiding more severe financial problems from the community, the numbers just don't add up.
They needed to cut 2 million dollars a year to balance the budget and they are receiving nearly 8 million dollars a year more than they were expecting. I know I studied real math (instead of the new math our students now receive) growing up but that should add up to a 6 million dollar surplus.
The only other possibility was that they needed to cut 2 million plus 2 million plus 2 million so that over time they were cutting 6 million a year, in which case we should still have several million dollars in surplus funds this year.
I don't understand how they can still be talking referendum and cutting programs and teachers.
This district is never going to see a referendum pass while its administrators continue to make poor decisions and disregard all the community says. This community is not just going to forget the millions lost with the Walmart/Police Station and Bigelow land deals. This community is not just going to forget the huge raises the administrators have been getting over the past several years. The teachers are the lowest paid in the County and yet the administrators are the second highest paid. This community is not just going to forget how the communities wishes were and are being disregarded about the high school band and the Kaisershot situation. This community is not just going to forget that Clayton Muhammad is still running an illegal fraternity and the board and administration have done nothing about it. This community is not just going to forget how they have had no voice in the choosing of the past two board members. The second, Salinas, was overwhelmingly rejected by the community at the last election and yet the board decided (against the communities wishes)that Salinas was the best cadidate out of about a dozen applicants. As long as the community is treated as an outsider regarding school district decisions, no referendum is going to pass.
I, for one, will continue to vote against a referendum until changes are made in the District. The children attending Dist. 131 schools are not being educated, but it's certainly not because of insufficient funding.
For Dist. 131 students, public records (from 2003-04 school year) show Instructional Expenditures of $4,832 per student and Operational Expenditures of $8,619 per student. However, only 59.3% of students "meet and exceeds" and the district did not make adequate yearly progress.
Compare that to nearby Yorkville schools. During the same period of time, Yorkville spent $3,766 per student for Instructional Expenditures and $6,622 per student for Operational Expenditures. Yet, by some miracle 77.3% of students "meet and exceeds" and the district made adequate yearly progress.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this one.
guarantee bus service for the kids if it passes that would get my vote and many others