Below is a link to an interesting article in which Pat Crowley interviews a number of politicians regarding the possibility of school districts like Fort Thomas suing the Commonwealth over the inequitable funding provided by the Commonwealth. I will try to expand on the litigation option a bit in a separate post.
Is litigation an option?
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
Posting Comments
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Welcome Fort Thomas!
Thanks for visiting the Fort Thomas Collaborative Blog. Please spread the word about this exciting new tool to your family and friends. Here, we will engage in the exciting task of leveraging our combined talents and resources for the benefit of the entire community.
In an effort to stimulate conversation and kick start this blog I suggest we first turn our attention to one of the most difficult problems we face, and that is funding for our schools. Many of you are keenly aware that the Fort Thomas Independent School District (FTISD) does more with less than just about any school district in the Commonwealth. Kentucky's statutory school funding mechanism, SEEK, interacts with other state statutes related to property taxes in a way that severely limits the FTISD's budget. That problem has been compounded by the Commonwealth's failure to fund education at adequate levels. These budget constraints limit the FTISD's ability to fund day-to-day operations and the district's ability to fund improvements to capital facilities.
Facilities, of course, represent another staggering challenge. Highlands High School is being renovated, but an additional $25 to $37 million is needed to complete the job, while Woodfill and Johnson are in dire need of replacement, at a combined cost of $30 to $40 million, depending on the size of the schools we build. Moyer, which is the most modern of our three elementary schools, needs substantial work as well that could cost another $5 to $10 million. Accordingly, we need between $60 and $87 million in capital improvements in our school district. Unfortunately, our current bonding capacity stands at a meager $10 million or so.
So where do we get the funding? Frankfort refuses to pay for the improvements we say we need, arguing we should "consolidate" two of the elementary schools to save money. The money saved from consolidation would be pittance, and would not address the issue of chronic underfunding. Even if we agreed to consolidate, Frankfort will not fund the building of facilities at market cost. Frankfort insists you can build a 600 student elementary school for a little over $10 million, while the reality is closer to $20 million.
The last two Local Planning Commissions struggled to balance our desire as a community to maintain our neighborhood schools against Frankfort's demands that we consolidate. The current plan calls for us to maintain our three elementary schools, a course of action sure to raise the ire of key players in Frankfort. The prior plan called for consolidation. Currently, the legislature has authorized the use of approximately $6.5 million to rebuild Woodfill, which is less than 1/2 what that will likely cost.
To summarize, our school district's operations budget is chronically underfunded and we need to invest between $60 and $87 million in capital improvements to modernize our school facilities. Your assignment as a concerned citizen is to begin brain storming solutions to this conundrum. Over the next several weeks I will post additional thoughts on this matter. For now, I invite each of you to subscribe to the blog and post your thoughts and comments in the comments section. If anyone is interested in writing a guest post please let me know. For now, stay tuned!
In an effort to stimulate conversation and kick start this blog I suggest we first turn our attention to one of the most difficult problems we face, and that is funding for our schools. Many of you are keenly aware that the Fort Thomas Independent School District (FTISD) does more with less than just about any school district in the Commonwealth. Kentucky's statutory school funding mechanism, SEEK, interacts with other state statutes related to property taxes in a way that severely limits the FTISD's budget. That problem has been compounded by the Commonwealth's failure to fund education at adequate levels. These budget constraints limit the FTISD's ability to fund day-to-day operations and the district's ability to fund improvements to capital facilities.
Facilities, of course, represent another staggering challenge. Highlands High School is being renovated, but an additional $25 to $37 million is needed to complete the job, while Woodfill and Johnson are in dire need of replacement, at a combined cost of $30 to $40 million, depending on the size of the schools we build. Moyer, which is the most modern of our three elementary schools, needs substantial work as well that could cost another $5 to $10 million. Accordingly, we need between $60 and $87 million in capital improvements in our school district. Unfortunately, our current bonding capacity stands at a meager $10 million or so.
So where do we get the funding? Frankfort refuses to pay for the improvements we say we need, arguing we should "consolidate" two of the elementary schools to save money. The money saved from consolidation would be pittance, and would not address the issue of chronic underfunding. Even if we agreed to consolidate, Frankfort will not fund the building of facilities at market cost. Frankfort insists you can build a 600 student elementary school for a little over $10 million, while the reality is closer to $20 million.
The last two Local Planning Commissions struggled to balance our desire as a community to maintain our neighborhood schools against Frankfort's demands that we consolidate. The current plan calls for us to maintain our three elementary schools, a course of action sure to raise the ire of key players in Frankfort. The prior plan called for consolidation. Currently, the legislature has authorized the use of approximately $6.5 million to rebuild Woodfill, which is less than 1/2 what that will likely cost.
To summarize, our school district's operations budget is chronically underfunded and we need to invest between $60 and $87 million in capital improvements to modernize our school facilities. Your assignment as a concerned citizen is to begin brain storming solutions to this conundrum. Over the next several weeks I will post additional thoughts on this matter. For now, I invite each of you to subscribe to the blog and post your thoughts and comments in the comments section. If anyone is interested in writing a guest post please let me know. For now, stay tuned!
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