The Francis Howell School District is now facing one of the most daunting budget shortfalls that it has dealt with in almost 10 years. The lack of revenue has cut deep into almost all areas of District budget and expenditure, forcing $7.3 million in total cuts, eliminating 95 staff positions, and causing $3 million in deficit spending. And that’s just for the 2011-2012 school year. The root of the problem is actually quite simple.
How the District makes its money (in fact 53.7 percent of its funding) is determined by the value of property- both residential and commercial- in the area. In 2009, the District’s assessed valuation decreased for the first time in seven years. Tax law states that when there is a decline in valuation, as the District is now, the District is allowed to raise the rate of collection, but can only collect as much money as they did the year prior. Simply put, the District has less revenue flowing in, and more expenditures going out.
“We’re starting to see the gap between revenue and expenditures grow further and further apart,” Supple said. “That’s what is causing our deficit.”
In December the deliberation of the cuts started. When the Board of Education instructed the Administration to find areas where money could be saved to avoid a deficit greater than $3 million. What they determined was a cut of 95 positions across the District, seven of which will come from North. Many of the positions being eliminated are in areas outside of the core classroom teachers.
“We know that the single most important factor in the quality of education is the quality of the classroom teacher,” Supple said. “We wanted to not impact class size in a dramatic way.”
In order to maintain what the District deemed essential staff, cuts in other areas were discussed. The two funds which the District has the most ability to manipulate- the General Fund and the Salary And Benefit Fund- were the ones which were focused on for cuts. In order to cut the least amount from Salaries and Benefits, building administrations were asked to decrease their General Funds by 10 percent (or $1.5 million across the District) for the next year. At North, the budget is overseen by Associate Principal Jack Ameis.
“You look at it and you determine, ‘What do you have to have?” Ameis said. “In a lot of cases, we’ve been fortunate. You just have to start cutting back on things that you don’t have to have.”
The department which is expecting to see the most cuts is the Science department, due to the fact that the department spends above average money on the in-class labs that they use to supplement their lessons. Their budget for next year is around $12,300, nearly $1700 less than this years’. There are also going to be 10 percent cuts in athletics and other District funded extracurriculars.
“I don’t go to the department heads and say, ‘This is what you’re going to get next year,” Ameis said. “That’s not how we do things. I ask them what they need to have a good program.”
Cuts like these are expected not only across the North community, but across the District. More than six administrative positions, over 65 teaching positions and 22 support staff positions will be cut. The root of the problem can be traced as far back as the Housing Market crash of 2008. The reason it’s just now affecting the District is due to the fact that their revenue comes from property tax. Property tax, unlike sales tax, remains pretty steady and is not as rapidly influenced by economic factors. This has allowed the District to maintain a relatively steady growth through the first year of the recession. However, the economic downturn has started affecting property value in the area, causing problems for the District. With the 2011 valuation looking like more declines, and the 2013 valuation not looking much better, Supple has predicted that the District could be in the negatives until 2015.
“With the changes in federal programs, it’s going to be harder for people to get into the market,” Supple said. “I don’t see our property tax revenue recovering in that time-span.”
By Kevin Beerman
