Thanks to the sharp eyed emailers who noted that the couriertimesnow.com website and phillyburbs.com websites have different content. Phillyburbs has more content.
I'm still disappointed in the article. It mentions nothing about defeasement being the lion's share of the savings, and the vote was not 5-2. It was 5-3.
Let's give credit where credit is due. Voting YES to provide an inadequately funded special education, charter school, and alternative education budget were: President William Hellmann, Vice President Al Radosti, Secretary Marlys Mihok, Treasurer Brenda Worob, and newcomer Jack Buckman. Voting NO were: Joe Kemp, Robin Reithmeyer, and William Farrell. Former Treasurer Gloria Heater was absent.
Budget includes $321 tax decrease
By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
MORRISVILLE -- Residents in Morrisville can expect to pay $321 less in taxes next year.
Taxes will lessen to $3,371 for a homeowner with the borough's average assessed property of $18,000.
Those eligible for the homestead/farmstead exclusion will see a further decline of $218. The exclusion is property tax relief from state slot machine revenue.
It's a relief to many residents, but falling taxes come with consequences.
A pared-down budget that is a result of this tax reduction could be a drain on programs and services for approximately 1,000 Morrisville students.
The board voted 5-2 late Wednesday evening on a $19.88 million budget for next school year. To lower taxes, expenditures are down by about 3 percent from this year.
The approved budget is far short of what is necessary to fully provide for upcoming special education, charter school and alternative school costs required by the state, according to the district.
“This option is a big no-no,” as far as district auditors and the state Department of Education are concerned, said Reba Dunford, the district's business administrator.
An estimated $2.2 million will be needed just for special education for about 250 students, 11 more than this year's average. This year, special education expenses were about $1.9 million, according to Kimberly Myers, Morrisville's supervisor of pupil personnel services.
The district also had to account for teacher contracts, which account for $10 million of the budget. The average teacher salary in Morrisville is about $70,000 a year, and the district employs 71 teachers and seven professional support staff members.
Rising fuel prices pushed the final budget skyward by another $22,400.
For the past few months board members have been arguing with the administration about how to crop those expenses, which keep rising.
State law says they are uncontrollable costs that have to be paid.
Last month, board members, including President William Hellmann, requested that Dunford reduce the projected necessary increases in special education and charter and alternative schools.
Hellmann, who was voted into office on the promise of tightening belts and lowering taxes, has repeatedly said that the school district spends too much.
“It's too much. It's a problem,” Hellmann said several times at Wednesday night's meeting.
He hasn't yet explained how to cover those costs but has said he doesn't trust the administration's cost estimates. Hellmann thinks certain expenditures have been padded so there is more money in the budget, making it a kind of wish list.
Yonson has expressed frustration with this view on several occasions and stressed that the administration has specified only a “bare-bones budget.”
Several residents requested the board vote for a budget that would safeguard as much of the uncontrollable costs as possible.
To achieve some kind of compromise between board members and the administration's recommendations, Dunford presented four different budget options before the vote.
Each retained the same tax decrease and a millage decrease of 17.8 mills, yielding a total millage of 187.3.
The differences among the budget possibilities involved funding partial increases in charter and alternative schools and special education services.
The highest expenditure option was around $20.1 million because it included taking about $182,000 from savings for those schools and services. That is still far less than what Elizabeth Yonson, the district's superintendent, has said is necessary to fully provide for students who need those services next year.
The board voted for the lowest expenditure option, which leaves out much of the required increase.
Now the district will have to pull the money from other areas and look for ways to reduce costs without cutting state-mandated services, warned Yonson. What those areas may be are still up in the air.
The budget options Dunford presented utilized varying amounts of the fund balance, the district's savings account.
Yonson said the district would somehow pay for all mandated services, no matter what.
Manasee Wagh can be reached at 215-949-4206 or mwagh@phillyBurbs.com.
June 27, 2008 6:11 AM
Friday, June 27, 2008
Email your complaints
Thanks to Dianne for her comment requesting contact information where we can send complaints or requests for information.
Here's a few to start off:
Government
Governor Ed Rendell email: web form only website
Senator Charles McIlhinney: email: cmcilhinney@pasen.gov website
Representative John Galloway email:web form only website
Here's a few to start off:
Government
Governor Ed Rendell email: web form only website
Senator Charles McIlhinney: email: cmcilhinney@pasen.gov website
Representative John Galloway email:web form only website
couriertimesnow.com
Kudos to the new Courier Times website. There's three separate stories posted here about Wednesday night's Morrisville school board meeting.
The first story is member Joe Kemp urging the board majority to do their homework before making changes. The story is sad in that Joe Kemp needs to use BCCT columnist Kate Fratti as his means of communication because the Emperor and his blindly subservient accomplices are unapproachable and indifferent. If you're not pleased with the way the current Stop the School majority is acting, drop them a line at SchoolBoard@mv.org. If you copy savethemorrisvilleschool@yahoo.com, I'll print it as well.
In the second story, the board's shameful treatment of Dr. Elizabeth Yonson is chronicled. Memo to the Emperor and accomplices: You're lucky that Morrisville has this talented administrator at all. If she doesn't sue the ever living crap out of you, it's because she's a better human being alone than you could ever collectively aspire to be. Go. Have the common decency to be ashamed. Especially those board members who keep talking the big talk about being independent, but when the Emperor commands, you keep on running to his beck and call. You may talk the talk, but the audience can clearly see the walk, and it doesn't match the talk.
The third story mentions the dilemma of economics. How do you pay for what you need? Parents are well versed in that daily struggle. Are average taxpayers? Yes, they are. But do some of them really understand the definition of a "community"? Let's also note that the reporter neglected to mention why the millage is lower. Answer: The penny-wise and pound-foolish bond defeasement.
MV school director pleads his case
Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 3:01 pm by Columnist Kate Fratti
Morrisville School Board member Joe Kemp today in an email urged the board majority, yet again, to do its homework before committing the troubled district to big change. Kemp, a minority member, worries the board leadership’s serious interest in a plan to tuition out high-school students to save money isn’t being aired in open.”The board should have [Solicitor] Mike Fitzpatrick draft formal letters to any and all school districts or private schools that we may wish to consider for a tuition program. He should also give us his opinion about the legality of such a plan,” he said.
“Talks should be held between a committee of the board and the teachers’ union with legal representation on both sides to see if there is any way to tuition students that will be acceptable by the union.
“We should find out if privatizing our high school means that all private school students would have their tuitions paid by the district. We should consider hiring an architectural firm that works with school districts to tell us the costs of converting our MHS to either a grade school or a K-12.
“We should find out the costs regarding busing as a factor in sending high school students out of the district and would that then make the district a busing district.
Superintendent contract shortened
Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 4:37 pm by Courier Times reporter Manasee Wagh
Morrisville’s school board majority approved shortening Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson’s contract at Wednesday night’s meeting. The contract was revised to three years instead of five.Yonson has been with the district for at least three years. The previous board renewed her contract for five years, from July 1 this year to June 30, 2013.
Under her leadership, Morrisville schools made several gains, including high performance levels in elementary school math.
Board President William Hellmann did not provide a concrete reason for shortening her contract. He thanked Yonson for doing an exemplary job and said a shorter contract was a better choice.
Yonson herself said it was an irregular course of action. After their first contract expires, most Bucks superintendents who get their contracts renewed do receive five-year contracts, she said.
Fewer taxes = fewer educational services?
Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 5:09 pm by Courier Times reporter Manasee Wagh
Residents in Morrisville can expect to pay $321 less in taxes next year.
The school board approved a $19.88 million budget Wednesday.
Taxes will lessen to $3,371 for a homeowner with the borough’s average assessed property of $18,000.
Those who were eligible for the homestead/farmstead exclusion will see a further decline of $218.
But there will be consequences, warned administrators. The new budget doesn’t account for all of the $2.2 million needed for special education services and additional money needed for alternative and charter schools.
The district will find a way to pay for all of those uncontrollable costs, but cuts may need to be made in other areas, said administrators. The state mandates that special education and charter and alternative schools must be paid for fully.
The first story is member Joe Kemp urging the board majority to do their homework before making changes. The story is sad in that Joe Kemp needs to use BCCT columnist Kate Fratti as his means of communication because the Emperor and his blindly subservient accomplices are unapproachable and indifferent. If you're not pleased with the way the current Stop the School majority is acting, drop them a line at SchoolBoard@mv.org. If you copy savethemorrisvilleschool@yahoo.com, I'll print it as well.
In the second story, the board's shameful treatment of Dr. Elizabeth Yonson is chronicled. Memo to the Emperor and accomplices: You're lucky that Morrisville has this talented administrator at all. If she doesn't sue the ever living crap out of you, it's because she's a better human being alone than you could ever collectively aspire to be. Go. Have the common decency to be ashamed. Especially those board members who keep talking the big talk about being independent, but when the Emperor commands, you keep on running to his beck and call. You may talk the talk, but the audience can clearly see the walk, and it doesn't match the talk.
The third story mentions the dilemma of economics. How do you pay for what you need? Parents are well versed in that daily struggle. Are average taxpayers? Yes, they are. But do some of them really understand the definition of a "community"? Let's also note that the reporter neglected to mention why the millage is lower. Answer: The penny-wise and pound-foolish bond defeasement.
MV school director pleads his case
Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 3:01 pm by Columnist Kate Fratti
Morrisville School Board member Joe Kemp today in an email urged the board majority, yet again, to do its homework before committing the troubled district to big change. Kemp, a minority member, worries the board leadership’s serious interest in a plan to tuition out high-school students to save money isn’t being aired in open.”The board should have [Solicitor] Mike Fitzpatrick draft formal letters to any and all school districts or private schools that we may wish to consider for a tuition program. He should also give us his opinion about the legality of such a plan,” he said.
“Talks should be held between a committee of the board and the teachers’ union with legal representation on both sides to see if there is any way to tuition students that will be acceptable by the union.
“We should find out if privatizing our high school means that all private school students would have their tuitions paid by the district. We should consider hiring an architectural firm that works with school districts to tell us the costs of converting our MHS to either a grade school or a K-12.
“We should find out the costs regarding busing as a factor in sending high school students out of the district and would that then make the district a busing district.
Superintendent contract shortened
Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 4:37 pm by Courier Times reporter Manasee Wagh
Morrisville’s school board majority approved shortening Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson’s contract at Wednesday night’s meeting. The contract was revised to three years instead of five.Yonson has been with the district for at least three years. The previous board renewed her contract for five years, from July 1 this year to June 30, 2013.
Under her leadership, Morrisville schools made several gains, including high performance levels in elementary school math.
Board President William Hellmann did not provide a concrete reason for shortening her contract. He thanked Yonson for doing an exemplary job and said a shorter contract was a better choice.
Yonson herself said it was an irregular course of action. After their first contract expires, most Bucks superintendents who get their contracts renewed do receive five-year contracts, she said.
Fewer taxes = fewer educational services?
Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 5:09 pm by Courier Times reporter Manasee Wagh
Residents in Morrisville can expect to pay $321 less in taxes next year.
The school board approved a $19.88 million budget Wednesday.
Taxes will lessen to $3,371 for a homeowner with the borough’s average assessed property of $18,000.
Those who were eligible for the homestead/farmstead exclusion will see a further decline of $218.
But there will be consequences, warned administrators. The new budget doesn’t account for all of the $2.2 million needed for special education services and additional money needed for alternative and charter schools.
The district will find a way to pay for all of those uncontrollable costs, but cuts may need to be made in other areas, said administrators. The state mandates that special education and charter and alternative schools must be paid for fully.
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