2007 AC Rpt4 - Laserfiche WebLink

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APPROPRIATION COMMITTEE 4" REPORT, April 28, 2007, TO 2007 ATM school operating budget to temporary borrowing (line item 2230) in Shared Expenses; it is hoped these costs reflect a small portion of the projected first -year energy savings from these capital projects. REVOLVING FUNDS In an effort to more clearly track the actual costs and receipts for certain fee -based services, revolving funds for fee-based athletics, and fee-based regular education transportation will be created. The current school revolving fund for gate receipts from various sports events will now include the fee -based portion of athletics. This revolving fund, created by the School Administration under Chapter 71, Section 47 of the Massachusetts General Laws, comes under the authority of the School Committee. The operating budget account will continue to cover the subsidized portion of the athletics programs. When the two school funding questions on the 2006 override failed to pass, the schools had no choice but to raise user fees, cut positions, and cut services and programs to reduce expenses. At that time, the athletics fees were restructured and increased. If the 2007 override does not pass, athletics fees will again be increased, this time from $300 per sport to $500 per sport, with the family cap increasing from $600 to $1,000. State law requires the school district to provide and pay for transportation for all children in grades K-6 who live two miles or farther from their school. Any other children who wish to take the school bus are charged a fee. The bus fee for these students in the past has not reflected the true cost of the service. In FY2008, the bus service will become self funding so the assessed fee will be based on the actual cost of transporting these children. The increase in bus rates will most likely cause a decrease in bus riders, an increase in families driving individually to the schools, and the unintended consequences of more traffic and pollution. However, given the tight budget, the School Committee has approved the elimination of the subsidy for non - mandated transportation. The receipts from paying bus riders will be collected in the to -be- created Transportation Revolving Fund. This type of revolving fund, as defined in Chapter 44, Section 53E' /z of the Massachusetts General Laws, may be established administratively for the first year, but will need to be, in each future year, reauthorized by a vote of Town Meeting. Starting in FY2008, there will be three sources of financing to support regular education transportation: 1) General Fund revenue; 2) revenue from the Transportation Revolving Fund; and 3) the School Bus Transportation Stabilization Fund created to support the transportation of students from Avalon Bay. SPECIAL EDUCATION (SPED) D' xPENSES Because SPED expenses are such a significant and challenging part of the school budget, we have elected to discuss these expenses in a separate section. This section deals in particular with three elements of the FY2008 SPED budget: out -of- district tuitions, transportation, and new programs. OUT -oF- DISTRICT TUITIONS When the Town is unable to meet the needs of a SPED student within the Lexington Public School system, State law requires that the student be sent to a program outside of Lexington to receive services and the Town must pay for these services. Out -of- district tuitions represent a highly volatile expense, as annual tuitions per student can cost more than $200,000 per year and it is often difficult to predict changes in a student's placement. From March to November 2006, for example, there were 32 changes in placement status, 10 of which were new out -of- district students and 22 of which were students who changed from one out -of- district school to another; these changes in placement resulted in additions to the SPED budget of $1.05 million. In 2006, the school administration implemented new procedures to enable it better to forecast and track these expenditures as well as to find less expensive alternatives than sending students out -of- district. (See New Programs below.) Tuition for students requiring out -of- district services is projected to increase by $624,920 in FY2008 compared to the FY2007 budget, an increase of 14.4 %, net of reimbursement received under the circuit breaker program (discussed below). Since the budgeted number of students is the same as the original budget for FY2007, the budgeted increase in spending is the result of an assumed 5% inflation rate in tuition expenses for this student population as well as expense increases incurred when students change Page 8 of 13