The Cost of Excellent Public Schools

Two-thirds of Summit’s 7,897 households don’t currently use public schools. So we need to explain our value proposition very carefully to them, because 52% of the $11,800 our average resident pays in total property taxes go for something he does not directly consume.

From his perspective this branch of local government is costing 10% more than last year, made up of

3.0% maximum permitted by state spending controls.

5.5% exploited by “special growth limitation adjustments” (SGLA’s).

1.5% due to less State Aid reimbursement revenues.

10% is four times faster than our County levy is growing, and bigger than City Hall’s appetite too.

The biggest ticket of any government program in Summit bar none is for Special Ed. Over 14% of our 3,679 students are now classified by state code. Giving them individualized education plans in addition to regular report cards requires 90 staff costing $9 million, of which only $2.2 million gets state reimbursed. Local taxpayers pick up the shortfall. $6.8 million is more than our entire Police Dept costs ($6.7 million). The next largest item would be our Fire Dept at $6.5 million.

So it’s critical to ramp up our lobbying effort for full and proper Special Ed funding from federal and state sources. Recent success with Green Acre grants show what can happen with political intervention, and Common Council will help the School Board take this to next level.

Cost control is always easier with economies of scale. Our municipal CFO right now is joint refinancing $14 million school + city bonds to lower debt service costs. We need full School Board cooperation in other citywide initiatives too, regardless of legal jurisdiction:

Combine purchasing power with City Hall to negotiate better terms from vendors.

Uniform policy on commercial sponsorships that profit from Naming Rights.

Asset sales of noncore property that fund capital investments without issuing more bonds.

Common approach to Movie industry film crews via a central Property Use Committee.

Consolidated field maintenance paid for by collecting sports Team User fees.

Relocating TV36 station to studio at High School for greater volunteer support.

Public schools must take all comers. So to a large extent our enrollment is market driven. The latest U.S. Census counted 4,500 school-age children living in Summit. If 3,700 come to us, it means 800 choose private schools or are ineligible citizens.

Pingry, Kent Place, Oak Knoll, St. Teresa’s, Oratory Prep are not expanding their capacity. Therefore demographic trends land full force on us. We have no choice but to build 24 more classrooms, none of which are in this year’s budget. But when Wilson and Jefferson Primary Centers come on stream in 2007 it will reconfigure our whole education program from top to bottom.

And at a very competitive price. Today it costs our District $12,600 to educate one pupil per year. Private school tuition is almost twice as expensive. And our academic results are award winning at all three levels of elementary, middle, and high school.

Real Estate broker surveys show that gracious neighborhoods are not the primary reason 300 families per year spend approximately $1 million each buying a home in Summit. More important than our housing stock are good mass-transit connections to high-paying job markets, and a stand-alone downtown retail business district.

But Summit’s #1 community asset is its public school system. More than anything our schools are what drive property values, which rose another 12% on average last year. However that’s small consolation to senior citizens and young working class families without the cashflow to pay our combined tax rate.

Tom's Current Agenda

Smaller Government
Recycling
Public Art
No Freight Trains
Downtown Economy
Municipal Budget
Taxes
Traffic