North Knox expects to get $144,000 less in state support next year than it received this year even though enrollment looks like it will be higher, a turn of events that frustrates superintendent Darrel Bobe.
More students should mean more money, at least that’s what the state said would be the case when it changed the way public schools were to be funded.
Money would follow the student was the mantra echoed over and over by state officials.
But that’s not the reality, Bobe said.
Now the state is looking to equalize such support, but not by raising how much the lower-funded school corporations receive but by lowering how much the higher-funded corporations get.
“So we’re getting less in state support even though our enrollment is increasing,” Bobe said.
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The board on Monday night approved 1-percent stipends for teachers and non-certified staff who last year worked at least two-thirds of the school year.
Finding money for such increases in the future will be challenging, he said.
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He said while it’s true the corporation’s total assessed property valuation has gone up considerably over the last year, leading to a reduced tax rate for property owners, the levy — the amount of local tax money raised — has gone down.
Bobe said while property owners are benefiting from all the development that’s gone on within the school district, leading to the dramatic increase in assessed valuation, the corporation, itself, deserved some of the credit for the care it’s taken with spending.
“We’ve cut 15 percent out of that levy,” he said. “That’s being fiscally responsible.”
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http://suncommercial.com/articles/2012/09/10/news/local_news/doc504e9f6f4c5cd774607825.txt
