11/13/1996 BOARD OF SELECTMEN Executive Session (4)

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SANDWICII SCHOOL F A Report for the Sandwich .Public Schools Pa foundation bud eta es taraet v rates to staff positions to determine payroll and adds g PF C_ formula amounts for textbooks, athletics, maintenance, and insurance. Several features make the foundation budget unique to each district. Average salary levels are adjusted to reflect wage patterns in different regions of the state. Calculations are made separately for elementary, middle, high school,vocational, and bilingual students, with lower class sizes and higher book and equipment allowances for vocational, high school, and bilingual students. Extra funds are prox-ided for low income students. o se Pcrate count is taken for special education enrollment, but funding is provided based ' on estimates of the number of students likely to need such assistance. The foundation budget does not use the actual count of special education students,lest this tempt some districts needless) to classi students as special needs or penalize financial) districts v �' P P �' which succeed in meeting special needs within regular classroom settings. the foundation budget as built up from specific calculations on numbers of teach- Although . ers and administrators, average salary levels, and expected maintenance, it is not meant to end its money. Rather, it is be a detailed blueprint for exactly how each district should s �! p f P meant as a reasonable wav of arriving at an overall target spending level. Local schools and school districts are free to use these funds as they see best to meet the education im- provement goals included within the law. In four areas-professional development, text- books extended proarams, and ex-traordinary maintenance- superintendents are required to report the amounts spent and to explain any shortfalls from the foundation budget al-- lotments. These are areas traditionally shortfunded when school budgets are tight. The foundation budget is adjusted each year to reflect changes in enrollment and inflation. To provide certainty to the calculations, the foundation budget is based on actual past year ' enrollments. The foundation budget for the 1994-1990' school year, for example, is based g �' �s. on October 1993 enrollments. In calculating foundation budgets,the Department of Edu- cation DoE looks at all students who reside within a particular community, regardless of where they actually go to school. Students who go to out of town schools under the choice `i and special education students tuitioned out to private schools, are counted to- program,� P ward their home town s foundation budget. E r; Meeting the Foundation Budget l) brie Districts which do not spend at foundation budget amounts must eventually� P g �' g send P tk ing to foundation levels. This is to be done over the seven years of the school reform la-,vv. Responsibility for increasing spending is split between local and state governments. The t law establishes a target local tax amount for each city and town, based on its per-capita in- ,. tY P P come and its per--pupil equalized property valuation (the gross standard of effort). In gradually gen- eral, local communities are expected raduall to increase taxes to this standard if this is Y z. necessary to achieve foundation level budgets. The difference between current tax levels ``` Page 2