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