What Keeps Us Up at Night
Presentation to HMS PTO MeetingMarch 8, 2012 – HMS Library
Bob Shages, HTSD Board
What Keeps Us Up at Night
2011-2013 HTSD Board of School DirectorsDavid Gurwin – PresidentMary Alice Hennessey – Vice President & Facilities ChairPam Lamagna – Secretary & Educational Affairs ChairBob Shages – Treasurer & Policy & Legislative AffairsGail Litwiler – Personnel ChairLarry Vasko – Finance ChairBryant Wesley – Student Affairs ChairGreg Stein – Technology ChairDenise Balason – Transportation Chair
HTSD Board
HTSD Central Administration
SuperintendentAsst. Superintendent
Business Manager
School Administration
US Dept. of Education
PA Dept. of Education
208 Teachers - HTEA
74 Sec’ty/Paraprofessionals - HESPA
40 Custodial/Maintenance Staff - CMA
12 Food Service Staff - CEA
• Policy• Oversight• Approvals• Hiring• Budget & Taxes
• Procedures to Implement Policy• Day-to-Day Operations• Staff & Student Performance• Planning
Community volunteers elected to 4 year terms
• Finance & Admin.• Student Services• Curriculum• Maintenance
• HHS• HMS• Poff• Central• Wyland
• Allegheny Intermediate Unit
3100 Students350 employees$43.7M Budget
• Regulation and Partial Funding
Facilities• All building renovated and air conditioned• HHS fields will be completed this Spring• HHS kitchen to be revamped over 2 year period• Board looks at all grounds and facilities as a community asset
• What will go next???• PA PLANCON – 17 steps required for construction
projects• PLANCON reimbursements have been suspended by PDE• Prevailing Wage Bill before House to help cut costs on
smaller projects
Transportation• $2,100,000 per year• 3100 HTSD students and 450
private/parochial/charter students• School – athletics – band – field trip bussing
• All private/parochial/charter students within 10 miles of Hampton border are bussed by HTSD – share when possible with other Districts
• Per student cost ranges from $2,000 to >$40,000 per student
• Difficult balance of cost with convenience and expectations
HTEA Contract
• HTSD and HTEA have been in discussion for 6 months• Process regulated by Act 88• More than salaries – benefits, work rules, common expectations• Contract up in June, 2012• Stay tuned
Charter Schools & Cyber Charter Schools
• School District chartered, community initiated/run schools• Funded by School Districts @ 80% of “per pupil cost” –
• range $6,000 to $16,000 HTSD is $9,500/ $17,500/year/student
• Given mandate Relief in order to concentrate on innovation and sharing
• 30 HTSD students in Charters (both types)• HTSD started new HTSD Curriculum-based distance learning
initiative
• AYP is sketchy especially with Cyber’s (2 of 8 in 2011 met AYP)• Many are run by for-profit companies (LRN is $750M company
on NYSE)• No real Cyber student accountability – are they there?• No real cost reduction to HTSD• Cyber Funding is grossly unfair – no connection to cost• Transportation adder can be more than the funding• Innovation sharing is minor• PA State Reimbursement eliminated in 2011-12 Budget
Vouchers• Promoted as “school choice”• “Ticket out” for poverty-level children in the lowest 5% of
Districts• Too many proposals and amendments over past year to
count• Downsized version passed in Senate (SB1); failed in
House – never voted on• Lots of for-profit lobbying money being passed around PA
and other states• Most plans will not affect HTSD – but not right for educational reform
• Plans that raise income limit and open vouchers to all students will affect HTSD
• Districts must still maintain “readiness to serve” capabilities• Senate Finance Report said about 7% of eligible student will use it• No private school accountability for tax dollars• Big question on constitutionality of parochial school vouchers• Unresponsive to real needs of most challenging students
and Districts• Will deplete public school funding at greater rate than any
cost reductions
PA State Employees Retirement System• Teaches retirement fund (as well as all state workers)
• Defined Benefit Program for all teachers and state workers• Teachers pay % of salary; HTSD pays % of salary; PA pays % of salary• upgraded in 2001 by PA Legislature for higher payouts
• Under-funded by BILLIONS – poor premise based on a never ending market run-up
• 2010 – 5.64% 2011 - 8.85% 2012 – 12.36% 2013 – 16.75% 2019 – 28.04%
• $110K actual HTSD cost increase per 1% increase in funding level (even after PA reimbursement)
• HTSD has a $4.4M reserve fund to be spent over 10 years to temper increases (most Districts do not)
• Approached Legislature for fixes but no viable solutions except extending amortization
• Minor changes to PSERS Plan in 2011 for new teachers but will not help for 30 years
2012-13 PA State Budget• “Largest amount of state funding in PA history” – Gov. Corbett
• Will Districts get more or less? Yes, they will! • Statewide, increase is about ½% for student oriented spending• Most of Corbett budget increase is targeted for PSERS
reimbursements• $100M of Accountability Block Grants cut out• Student Achievement Education Block Grant combines 5
funding programs for “District flexibility in spending” but most are mandates
• Poorer school districts are hurt more than HTSD because of higher state funding that is poverty related• This will play out for months
• PSBA and PSEA are spending lots of energy trying to figure it all out for their organizations
• Half-truths and incomplete statements will be made by both sides• Mandate relief would help but nothing actually proposed by
Corbett Administration
Hampton Township School District2012-13 State Budget Line itemsPer State Proposed Budget released February 7, 2012
2012-13State Proposed Budget
2011-12State Final Budget
2010-11State Final Budget
Revenue Source
Student Achievement Education Block Grant* $ 6,300,493
Basic Education Subsidy (incl ARRA in 10-11) $ 4,608,256 $ 4,926,546
Social Security Subsidy $ 840,793 $ 839,163
Cyber I Charter Reimbursement Subsidy $ 51,622
Pupil Transportation Subsidy - $ 755,082 $ 775,565
PA Accountability Grant $ 88,849 $ 226,143
Total State Funding $ 6,300,493 $ 6,292,980 $ 6,819,039
$ Change from Previous Year $ 7,513 $ (526,059)
Percent Change from Previous Year 0.12% -7.71%2- Year $ Decrease (518,546)
2- Year Percent Decrease -7.60%
Net increase to HTSD for 2012-13
• Initial “preliminary budget is $43,707,000 – up 5.15% from 2011/12
• Funded with 74% local (60% real estate, 8% wage taxes); 24% State; 2% Federal• In 2011/12 lost $550,000 in PA funding; is up $96,362
for this year BUT - No Accountability Block Grant funding – • Over 3 yrs, AGB decreased from $226,000 - $88,000
- $0• HTSD Budgeting is a bottoms-up, six month process that
must be completed before state finishes their budget• Goal is to fund all programs at high-performance levels with
no tax increase – more difficult each year
2012-13 HTSD Budget
Assessments & Taxes• Property assessments are an Allegheny County function,
not local• On reassessment values, HTSD has to reset the millage rate
so as not to receive a financial benefit (within 2%) – “revenue neutral”
• HTSD is known as one of the most cost-effective Districts in SW PA• 2011-12 Tax rate = 21.35 mils• County Avg. is 23.66 - HTSD is 2.31 mils or 9.76%
lower• 12 lowest of 41 Districts in Allegheny County
• Act 1 limits tax increases to Index Limit - 2012-13 = 0.427 mils + exceptions - Or, we could have a referendum!
• 70% of Hampton taxpayers do not have school children• FYI – Allegheny County taxes just increased 20+%
So . . . What Keeps Us Up at Night ? (our children, of course)
• Will our students reach their personal potential while at HTSD?
• Will our children be personally successful when they leave HTSD?
Everything else is just working out the details
Addendum - What Else Keeps Us Up at Night ?In addition to what was discussed, we also deal with:• Class size and balance between schools – monthly reports
starting in January with bi-weekly reports by May• Tax base – is it growing at a level that can keep pace with
inflation? Meetings with Hampton Township Council on how to grow it while maintaining the community character
• Personnel issues – do we have the “best” people teaching our children and running our schools
• Curriculum – are we using the best methods and scheduling the right classes that will challenge children at all levels and better prepare them for the future
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