Based on a review of the community feedback themes regarding the 2012-2013 school district budget, a list of questions and responses has been generated. They are:
Board of School Directors
Q. Are school board members compensated?
A. By law, school board directors do not receive compensation for their services.
Budgetary
Q. What is a fund balance ? Does the Avon Grove School District have one?
A. A fund balance is the total of any funds that may be left each year after all of the school district’s obligations have been paid and have accumulated over the years. The district currently has a fund balance of $19.5 million which has been designated as follows:
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$10.0 million to offset future increases in health benefits and pension costs;
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$2.0 million to balance the current budget; and
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$7.5 million as undesignated, unreserved finds.
Q. Can the school district utilize some of the fund balance to offset an increase in taxes?
A. The district has used part of these funds to balance the last two years’ budgets and may consider using part of the remaining funds to balance the 2012-2013 budget.
Q. Residents of Penn Township and some other municipalities pay an EIT tax of .5 percent which is deducted from their paycheck every week. Is it an option to help the school district budget if the EIT were raised to 1 percent?
A. Under current law, a new earned income tax must be placed on the ballot for approval by the voters. Any revenues generated by a new earned income tax may only be used to fund the homestead-farmstead exclusion and reduce school real estate taxes. The revenues cannot be used to fund existing or new program expenditures.
Q. What is a "tier" reduction?
A. At the direction of the Avon Grove Board of School Directors, the administration prepared a list of “tier” budget reductions and revenue enhancements to explore the impact of reducing expenditures/increasing revenues in the 2012-2013 budget, and to reduce the proposed use of the fund balance (surplus funds accumulated in prior years). The use of “tiers” was to explore the impact on programs, with items in the first tier identified as having a lesser impact and items in the last tier having a significant impact as related to the goals and objectives of the 2008-2013 District strategic Plan. The five tiers, a description of the budget reduction/enhancement being explored, and the related impact as measured against the strategic plan goals are posted online. Click here to view.
Extracurricular Activities and Athletics
Q. Does the school district currently charge fees for students participating in extracurricular activities and athletics?
A. Yes. Athletic and nonscholastic activity participants contribute $150 per year in high school and $125 per year in middle school to offset some of the costs of these programs.
Q. Does the school district plan to eliminate extracurricular activities and athletics?
A. No decisions have been made to eliminate any athletic or activity programs.
Facilities
Q. Has the school district considered generating revenue through corporate branding opportunities and/or advertising both inside and outside of the school buildings?
A. The school district has not considered generating revenue through corporate branding or advertising. The Board of School Directors has authorized the high school sports boosters to generate revenue from outdoor advertising signs in the stadium to supplement the athletic program.
Q. Can the school district generate revenue by renting fields and facilities to outside organizations or other school districts that lack similar facilities?
A. The school district does charge fees for the use of facilities and fields by outside groups and Board Policy # 707 and # 707AR provide regulations and the current fee schedule.
Q. Has the school district investigated different ways to reduce electrical costs (i.e., implementing a 4-day week, participating in a reverse auction, and reducing lighting)?
A. The school district has undertaken several conservation measures to reduce energy costs by:
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installing some energy saving light fixtures;
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reducing unnecessary lighting;
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installing energy efficient equipment throughout the middle school building; and
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implementing a four day work week when school is not in session.
The school district also purchases electric service through an auction process, participates in an electric power curtailment program and receives a credit on utility invoices.
Q. Can the school district generate savings by holding graduation in the high school stadium?
A. Because of the cost of equipment rental, staging, set up, security and additional staff required, there would be little or no savings attained by conducting high school graduation in the stadium. Past experience has also shown that weather, the lack of adequate parking and traffic control are of major concern.
Q. Does the school district currently charge students for parking? If so, could that fee be increased?
A. The school district charges students $150 per year for parking privileges at the high school, generating approximately $32,000 annually.
Q. Can the school district save money by outsourcing maintenance and custodial services?
A. Outsourcing is a valid area of inquiry. However, the matter is also subject to collective bargaining and public bidding laws that would need to be evaluated.
Food Services
Q. Is the school district required to provide food services for students?
A. The school district is not required to provide food services for students, but participates in national - and state-funded school nutrition programs in providing those services.
Q. Can the school district save money by outsourcing food services?
A. Food services are accounted for separately and have produced excess revenue in each of the last eight years. The district may consider outsourcing these services in the future, subject to legal restrictions and the timing of such considerations.
Health Benefits
Q. Does the school district currently audit employee health care costs?
A. The school district audits participation in health care plans and reviews charges and trends on a monthly basis, which includes analysis by outside consultants.
Purchasing
Q. Is the school district currently participating in Joint Purchasing Board Bids?
A. The school district participates in several local and statewide joint purchasing programs
Real Estate Appeals
Q. Can the school district analyze all commercial real estate assessment appeals that resulted in a reduction by the Board of Appeals and consider appealing the decisions?
A. Yes. Although there are relatively few commercial properties and appeals, the district participates in all appeals of commercial property assessments.
Q. Could the school District generate savings by hiring a delinquent tax collection firm and asking the county to waive the 5% collection fee for delinquent tax collections?
A. The school district, with several other Chester County school districts and the statewide organization of school business officials, is pursuing the waiver or elimination of the 5% collection fee. Should legislation be enacted requiring the county to waive collection fees if it is requested by taxing authorities, an alternative process will be evaluated.
Q. Does the district collect delinquent taxes?
A: The district collects delinquent taxes through the Tax Claim Bureau of Chester County. The Tax Claim Bureau places a lien on each property with delinquent taxes and administers the collection process, including the sale of properties with unpaid delinquent taxes. Chester County receives a 5% commission on all taxes, interest and penalties collected on behalf of the district.
Although the district has investigated the use of a third party collection agency, where all collection costs would be added to the amount owed by the property owner and the process expedited, Chester County will not waive their 5% collection commission fee and therefore this process would provide no savings to the district.
The district currently pays approximately $75,000 in commissions to Chester County each year. There is a statewide effort to enact legislation requiring counties to forfeit the commission if an outside agency is used for the collection of delinquent taxes.
Technology
Q. Can savings be generated by having students use electronic textbooks?
A. The use of electronic textbooks requires further investigation to determine actual costs, to include license fees and the technology necessary to access the e-textbooks, and whether any savings would be achieved.
Q. Can the District require students to provide their own technology in school?
A. The school district has taken steps to investigate this opportunity.
Q. Can the District save money by outsourcing Technology Services?
A. The school district explored using an outside staffing firm to supplement the technology staff and found that the cost was nearly double that of the district’s hourly employees.
Transportation
Q. Is the school district required to provide transportation for students?
A. With limited exceptions, the school district is not required to provide transportation services to students.
Q. Can the school district charge students for transportation?
A. The school district is not permitted to charge students for these services.
Q. Can the school district generate savings by reevaluating transportation services to Avon Grove Charter School and out-of-district private schools ?
A. The transportation services provided to nonpublic school students, charter school students and all Avon Grove School District students is constantly monitored and evaluated to determine if cost savings can be realized. Most of this is done between May and June each year and reevaluated throughout the year. The school district is not required to provide transportation services for most students, but, must provide transportation services to students attending charter schools and nonpublic schools within a ten- mile limit from school district boundaries, if such services are provided to public school students.
Q. Would altering the current half day schedule for kindergarten students generate savings?
A. The cost of altering the schedule for kindergarten students on certain days such as early dismissal days is under consideration. The cost of full-day kindergarten programs would exceed the savings if mid-day kindergarten transportation was not necessary. |
