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January 24, 2008
Linda Robinson will be in at 1:30 Thursday for a chat about the upcoming school district discussion about a possible increase to the local option budget, and the prospects of sending a proposal to voters this spring.
Moderator: Good afternoon. I'm 6News education reporter Lindsey Slater and I'll be moderating this chat with School Board President Linda Robinson. We'll be discussing the upcoming school board discussion about a possible increase to the local option budget. Thanks for being here, Linda.
Linda Robinson: My pleasure.
Moderator: To start, can you explain what the local option budget is?
Linda Robinson: The local option budget is a local funding option enabling our community to maintain high-quality public education in the Lawrence public schools. The State appropriates a General fund to the district, and the local option fund is percentage of that funding. Currently, USD 497 is at 30% of the General Fund.
Moderator: What will you be discussing on Monday at the school board meeting about the local option budget?
Linda Robinson: I think I need to provide some background information in order to answer that question. As a result of the State's school finance law suit of a few years ago, the State legislature rasied the amount of LOB that school district's could raise. However, the legislature placed a cap on the LOB at 30%; in order to go beyond that percentage, the districts must have an election. USD 497 is currently at 30%, therefore, it is necessary to have an election in order to raise the LOB. Two of our neighboring districts have already successfully passed their elections. So, the Board will be discussing whether or not to raise the LOB to 31%.
Moderator: If the Board does decide to raise the LOB to 31%, what happens next?
Linda Robinson: On Monday night, the Board would need to adopt a resolution granting continuous and permanent authority to increase the local opton budget from 30% to 31% for the 2008-2009 school year. We would then need to determine a date for the election. Since there are no scheduled elections in Douglas county until August 1, we would be looking at an April 1 election in order for the funding to have an impact on the 2008 -2009 budget.
ksbeast: What would the school board do with the extra money if it asked the public to vote for an increase in the Local Option Budget?
Linda Robinson: The mission of the Lawrence Public Schools is "learning for all, whatever it takes". All of our resources are focused on student learning. The new money would be used for the purpose of student instruction. The exact language for the resolution would be determined at the Monday night Board meeting.
Moderator: How much money would the LOB raise cost taxpayers and how much money would the district get from the 1% increase?
Linda Robinson: Based on projections using this year's student enrollment information, an increase of 1% in the LOB would raise $678,364. For the owner of a home valued at $200,000, a 1% increase in the LOB is estimated to cost $1.15 per month (figures based on the 2007 -2008 school year).
Moderator: Are there any other options for the district to raise money?
Linda Robinson: That's a really good question. Other than the LOB (property tax), there is no other way that the public schools can raise the additional money that is needed to address state and federal mandates, including the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) act. Public schools cannot, for instance, charge tuition or raise sales or income taxes. Those options are open to other governing bodies. Public Schools budgets are determined by the State legislature, based on a formula that includes student enrollment and other mitigating factors. The state legislature has ruled that local school districts must use the LOB to offset the rising cost of public education.
Moderator: That's all the time we have for our chat today. Thanks to Linda Robinson for coming in and talking with us.
Linda Robinson: Thank you for having me.
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