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Fringe
| | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2001 - 8:38 am: |     |
Between 18 January, the date of the first prelim school budget, and 30 January, the date of the second, SO-M administrators were able to get the State Department of Education to "adjust" the ammount of money the district is entitled to raise/spend WITHOUT having to make a Separate Proposal by $1.7 million +. This is not a grant. It is simply legal authority to raise taxes.
As a result, several items, including the Alternative School, that were slated for elimination or a Separate Proposal in budget 1 have been moved to the safety of the T&E tent.
T&E or, Thorough and Efficient, is that portion of the budget that the board/administration considers absolutely necessary. Such designation is important because the Board of School Estimate's ability to trim the T&E budget is subject to appeal to the state which almost never second guesses the school district.
Conversely, programs/positions put into the Separate Proposal/Special Question are at risk because a reduction or rejection of the ammount, not items, proposed there by the administration/school board to the Board of School Estimate is not subject to state appeal.
So, if you were making the decisions of what to put in the Separate Proposal/Special Question -
would it be emotional items like Instrumental Music or vague concepts like Capital Improvements?
Oh, the tax result of the $1.7 million + allowance - the tax increase for district residents in the 2001-2002 school budget went from 1.6% to 4.3% without considering the effects of a Separate Proposal/Special Question.
JTL |
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