2020-03-25-AC-ATM-rpt - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

APPROPRIATION COMMITTEE-2.020 ATM 25 March 2020 Lexington's Assessment The remainder of the revenue is raised through assessments on member towns and tuition for out-of-district students. Member towns are assessed a share of the District's total costs for the upcoming year, net of the District's non-assessment revenue,based on four factors: 1. The State-Required Minimum (SRM)per-student tuition cost set annually by the DESE, 2. An additional charge for operating costs in excess of the SRM that is allocated based on the four- year average student enrollment, 3. Transportation costs, 4. Debt service costs from capital projects. One percent of the debt service cost is assessed equally to all member towns and the remainder is appor- tioned based on the most recent four-year rolling average of student enrollment and a "combined effort" factor as determined by the Chapter 70 formula. A breakdown of the Town's FY2020 and FY2021 MRHS assessments is shown below. The projected as- sessment for FY2021 is $2,863,147, an increase of$393,016 (15.9%)over the final FY2020 assessment. Projected Lexington Assessment—Based on Unapproved House-2 Budget Bill Enrollment Basis Assessment Components Per-Student FY2020 FY2021 FY2020 FY2021 FY2021 State-Required Minimum 53 65 $799,005 $1,057,954 $16,276 Regular Day Students* 52.25 55.13 $962,102 $1,011,769 $18,352 Transportation 53 65 $86,714 $83,516 $1,285 Total Operating Costs* $1,847,821 $2,153,239 Capital* 49.63 55.13 $618, 510 $709, 908 $12,877 Post-Graduate Programs 1 0 $3,800 TOTAL ASSESSMENT $2,470,131 $2,863,147 Annual%increase (decrease) 16.2% 15.9% * Starred rows in this table use average enrollment over the prior 4 years,while non-starred rows use current enrollment. The respective per-student amounts cannot be combined arithmetically. The FY2021 operating cost per student works out to $33,126 (assuming 65 regular day students). Due to the assessment formula,the per-student amount lags behind short-term enrollment trends. A rising enroll- ment(as we expect this year)will tend to lower per-student costs (and vice versa) until the 4-year average stabilizes. Enrollment in other member towns can also affect this figure, particularly if it leads to higher out-of-district enrollment. We anticipate further changes to the projected revenues and budgeted expenses in the MRHS budget fol- lowing publication of this report. It is likely that the assessment will be adjusted prior to being presented to Town Meeting. Shared Expenses (2000) The Shared Expenses section of the budget covers appropriations for various activities that are managed centrally rather than by the Lexington Public Schools(LPS)or individual municipal departments.Although these expenditures do not appear in the budgets of LPS or individual departments,they are driven primarily by decisions by LPS and those departments. As shown in the table below,over 60%of shared expenses fund employee benefits,which are administered by municipal staff, but which are driven by current and past staffing decisions made by LPS and the mu- nicipal departments.The second largest line item(19.0%)is to support facilities used by LPS and municipal activities that are managed by the Public Facilities Department. The third largest line item (16.8%) is for 11