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Superintendent and treasurer outline budget stance, urge contact with state lawmakers over Fair School Funding
Summary
Superintendent Jeff Harrison and Treasurer Greg presented the district's monthly finance update and urged community contact with state legislators to support full phase-in of the Fair School Funding Plan; the officials said state funding per pupil falls short of local cost and warned that incomplete implementation shifts costs to local taxpayers.
Superintendent Jeff Harrison and Treasurer Greg used the Feb. 12 board meeting to review the district's financial position and to urge the community and board members to contact state legislators in support of fully funding the Fair School Funding Plan.
Harrison read a draft letter he plans to send to the district's four state representatives urging support for the plan's full phase-in, arguing that incomplete implementation shifts costs to local taxpayers. "I urge you to make public school funding a top priority and advocate for the continued phase in of the fair school funding plan," Harrison said as he read his draft letter to legislators.
Treasurer Greg reviewed January financials and outlined the district's dependence on local revenue. He told the board the state currently provides roughly $2,700 per pupil in flexible funding for this district while the local cost to educate a student he cited is about $14,000. "If the state isn't going to fund it, then it's coming in a form of a levy, unfortunately," Greg said, summarizing how incomplete state funding shifts the burden to local taxpayers.
Greg noted January included an atypical "three-pay" payroll month and a planned severance payment, both of which increased expenditures for the month. On a year-to-date basis and against the district forecast, he said expenditures and revenues remain roughly in line and that the district would continue to monitor cash flows and the forecast.
Board members encouraged parents and community members to make individualized contacts with representatives rather than mass-produced, identical emails, saying legislative staff reported they respond more to constituent-specific input.
Harrison and board members noted statewide budget activity: the governor's executive budget proposes phasing in the Fair School Funding Plan but left the base per-pupil inputs at fiscal 2022 levels; Harrison and Greg warned that freezing base inputs could push some districts off the formula and reduce guarantee funding. They encouraged community advocacy and described planned outreach to legislators and coalition meetings in the region.
