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| DOWNLOAD How Our Schools are Funded |
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WATCH video about
school funding |
| Important Dates: |
- April 2 - Board of Education Public Hearing
(LIVE-BLOG)
- April 9 - Board approves budget
- April 12 - The district present the budget to the Mayor
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Every year the amount we spend goes up – and not necessarily because we want it to. Inflation hits individuals and organizations alike. We have to pay more for many of the same services we receive year to year. But you may be surprised to learn a huge majority of that increase comes from unavoidable increases. The rest would be dedicated to programs aimed at increasing achievement, bettering our schools, and graduating more students.
What behind the increase?
- Fixed & Unavoidable Costs
As is the case every year, certain cost increases are unavoidable. Salaries, insurance and pensions cost more. Utilities cost more. Just like in your family's budget, inflation means it takes more money to provide the same services year over year.
- Serving More Students
Our student population is going up, too. We're one of the very few urban districts in the country with increasing enrollment. That means more teachers, more support staff and more services provided to them.
- New Schools
Then there are the new schools opening up next year. We will add five new charter schools to our district, with an added cost of $15 million attached to them, as well as the cost of planned enrollment increases at current charter schools. There's a lot of debate about charter schools, but what isn't debatable is the impact they have on the district budget. In 2013-14, $40 million will flow directly to 19 charter schools. Because there are no comparable offsets to district expenses at traditional schools, that means sizeable increases to our operating budget.
- Vital Technology
Our technology needs are more pressing now than in years past. Moving to the Common Core State Standards and the PARCC (Partnership for the Assessment of College and Career readiness) assessments means many students have to start taking tests online. This means our technology infrastructure must get the upgrades it needs. We need the computers and internet backbone to allow thousands of students to take these computerized tests simultaneously.
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