Marion school mill levy unchanged
Marion-Florence Unified School District officials intend to present a budget based on a levy of 46.5 mills, roughly the same as this year, board of education members heard Monday at their regular monthly meeting.
Higher property valuation means the district will receive more money from the same number of mills.
The mill levy includes general fund, local option budget, and bond and interest payments.
In addition, a change in the school finance formula will allow the district to draw more money from local taxpayers.
All special education funds now will go through district general funds. This will add about $800,000 to the Marion-Florence general fund, increasing it to about $4.8 million.
The district can't use this money. It must go to Marion County Special Education Cooperative.
However, since local option budgets are based on a percentage of the general fund, districts can receive more money. Since the general fund is larger, the percentage generates more money.
Currently, the district has a local option budget of about 13 percent. Its maximum is 20 percent.
About 90 percent of the general fund budget comes from state aid, with the remaining 10 percent from local tax dollars. About 40 percent of the local option budget is state aid, with the rest coming from property owners in the district.
Superintendent Gerald Henderson said it was a way for legislators to provide more money to schools while claiming they were not increasing taxes.
In addition, district officials fear the state will cut its approved budget to schools next June, at the end of the current fiscal year.
The district has canceled some maintenance, staff training, and improvement plans, and will delay large purchases until it is clear what the financial future will be.
"When most of our money is spent on people, we had better have money to meet payroll at the end of the year," said Martin Tice, business manager.
The board will review the proposed budget at a special meeting July 24. It will be submitted for formal approval following a hearing at the Aug. 12 meeting.
