Rock Creek School Board Learns about New Facility Funding
by Darrel Stufflebeam
January 18, 2008
A few weeks ago, the Rock Creek School Board learned about the advantages and disadvantages of securing New Facility Funding. Essentially, New Facility Funding allows school districts to receive a large amount of state money for students that attend school in a new building.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that, in order to be eligible, the school district must have a Local Option Budget (local property taxes) equal to at least 25% of its General Fund Budget. Most school districts are eligible for New Facility Funding. Because our LOB is relatively low, however, we would have to increase our property taxes for two years to receive the extra funding.
How much money would we get from the state? How much would the tax increase cost for people that own property? What would the district do with the money? Although it’s very difficult to offer exact figures, we have estimates regarding new funding and taxes for the two years of eligibility. We also have a spending plan in place should the BOE decide to pursue the additional funding.
The school district would gain approximately $1.39 million from the state over the two years of New Facility Funding eligibility. Becoming eligible would require a local tax mill increase of approximately 6 mills. A mill is one dollar of tax for every thousand dollars of assessed value of property. For a person with a $100,000 home the additional cost would be about $69 a year. Please keep in mind that all figures are estimated and could change somewhat.
If the BOE chose to pursue New Facility Funding, the rate of return on our local investment would be about 235%. In other words, for every dollar we raise locally, we would get about $2.35 from the state.
In regard to spending, our Keep Improving District Schools (KIDS) Committee has discussed various priorities. One priority for spending would be renovations at WES. Those renovations would include central air and new windows. We also have plans to use a portion of the new funding to replace some vehicles and update and expand some classroom technology. The remaining funds could be saved for potential future building expansions or used for other capital improvements. Since the funding is available for only two years, the money couldn’t be used for continual expenses like salaries.
I presented all of the details to the BOE and will do so for the public at two meetings in early March. We will hold one meeting in Westmoreland and one in St. George. Those meetings will be announced well in advance and anyone in the district can get a copy of the PowerPoint presentation. That presentation is ready now and contains a lot more details. If anyone would like a copy now, please let me know by calling 457-3732 or emailing stuffled@rockcreekschools.org. The BOE will likely make a decision by the end of May.
New Facility Funding is one of the best returns for our money possible but it requires a tax increase for two years. Some patrons will be upset if the BOE chooses to pursue the funding and some will be upset if they don’t. Regardless of what they decide, we should respect the BOE for the fair process they’ve established and their willingness to make tough decisions based on the overall best interests of our school district and its children.
