Superintendent's Message
February 2, 2009

Greetings. In January, the School Board approved a budget amount of for the March Town Meeting Day ballot. With all of the media coverage about school spending these past few weeks, I wanted to take a few moments to share some questions and answers on our budget, and add a few brief news updates from our schools.

BUDGET QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

What does this budget provide?

  • Maintains our commitment to high-quality academics, offers 21st century learning opportunities (including world language beginning in elementary school and basic technology integration) and strong arts, music, sports and physical education program.
  • Continues to meet the needs of our very complex student body.
  • Maintains class sizes within Vermont's quality standards.
  • Maintains a modest share of support for after school (primarily funded through grants and tuitions)
  • Maintains our neighborhood schools, and provides magnet choices (magnet development primarily funded through grants)
  • Reflects the educational and social values expressed by the residents of Burlington, while still being cost effective (remaining below the statewide average for funding).

    • What makes our budget process unique in Vermont

  • We spend $2000 less per equalized pupil than the statewide average.
  • We have increasing enrollment.
  • We are a district with one of the highest poverty rates in the state.
  • We are a refugee resettlement center.
  • We serve a complex student body at a fraction of the cost elsewhere in the state.

    • Breakdown of This Year's Budget
    We have worked hard to find the most cost-effective ways to provide the services needed by our students in the face of great economic hardship, insufficient state support and diminishing federal funds. Our budget reflects our commitment to our students while minimizing the impact to taxpayers.
    Our budget will have a 6.3% impact to the local taxpayer (the 9.1% budget increase offset by new revenue). The increase, not including the additional revenue, breaks down in this way:

  • Contractual Obligations/Wages: $2.6 million or 4.4%
  • Special Education: $1 million or 2.2%
    * Includes livable wage contractual commitment noted above
    * Covers last year's deficit from serving more intensive need students than anticipated and projecting the cost of these mandated services going forward
    * Absorbs ongoing cost-shift of services not provided through state and federal systems
  • Repaying last year's deficit: $700 thousand or 1.6%
    * Covers energy overruns, unexpected critical repairs (due to failing equipment/infrastructure) and spike in cost of substitute teachers due to significant illness

    • Together, these three factors account for about 8% of the increase being requested. The remaining 1% supports program and staffing adjustment of $535 thousand or just above 1%.

    Why not cut teachers or other positions?
    Given current enrollments, eliminating positions would increase class sizes and hurt the quality of education for our students. We have not cut staff this year because:

  • Our elementary classes would increase beyond the Vermont school quality standards for class sizes
  • Our middle school class sizes are scheduled to increase next year to such an extent that our budget includes another 6th grade teacher to keep us at the quality standard of 22-25 per class
  • Our schools must provide a baseline of staff to meet English as a Second Language and special education mandates. We provide these services and still do not have as many resources in these areas as needed. We continually seek city, state and federal aid to supplement.
  • Our student population requires support services such as social workers and behavior specialists. This cost is shifted from the state to our schools, and needs increase in tough economic times.
    • We have not hesitated to reduce staff when it is warranted, such as the reduction of a teacher at Flynn last year (a move that was not popular). Central office support services are lean, with only one level of staff available to provide the needed supports to keep systems and classrooms running in the district.

    How do we offset the cost to local taxpayers?
    Burlington schools are the lowest spending per equalized pupil in Chittenden County. Burlington schools currently cost almost $2000 less per student than the Vermont statewide average, and with our increase, will still be $1000 less than this year's Vermont statewide average. We maintain this by:

  • Continually seeking ways to increase cost savings
  • Pursuing and acquiring private and federal grant-funding
  • Partnering with local colleges, universities, and non-profit organizations, parents and community volunteers that provide additional resources

    • One of the many ways we are seeking to reduce costs this year is to not mail copies of our mandated, 44 page annual report to every home this year. Instead, we will notify you with postcards when it is ready, post it on the web, place copies in schools and various public places and offer to send you a hard copy if you wish one. This will potentially save us $8000.

    Income Sensitivity
    About 85% of Burlington residents make less than the $90,000 household income to qualify for income-sensitivity which reduces the education tax impact. 47% of Burlington property taxpayers are income sensitized. Residents should look into this option for their own situation.

    Get the Details on the Budget
    On our website, www.bsdvt.org, we have information on the tax impact of our budget, charts to clarify these facts, and a tool for residents to look up their own information to determine tax impact. Please remember to vote on March 3rd or go to city hall to vote early or to request an absentee ballot.

    Brief Updates from Our Schools

  • Hunt Middle School hosted its 1st annual multicultural dinner on January 29th.
  • Burlington Schools won a $5000 award from the New England Dairy & Food Council for our expanded breakfast program
  • Congrats to the BHS Scholars Bowl team won the Pre-Holiday Academic Tournament
  • The fabulous BHS One Act plays take the stage February 18th & 20th
  • 160 Edmunds Middle School students re-lived the debate for American Independence on January 23rd.
  • Many of our students watched and discussed the inauguration, and some of our students headed to Washington too!
  • We will have a parent input meeting on the magnet registration criteria on Tuesday, February 10th from 5-6pm and 7:30-8:30pm at Central Office, 150 Colchester Avenue. Magnet information sessions for our Academy for Integrated Arts at Wheeler and Academy for Sustainability at Barnes are scheduled for February 17th, with Open Houses on February 18th and 19th.