Posts tagged School Finance
The Executive Office of the President pays a visit to PrideandPromise.com
Jul 9th
In an earlier post, I highlighted some of my data collection from Google Analytics. It’s been quite interesting to follow the dynamics and trends that have developed over time. However I was a little surprised to uncover the origin of one recent visitor — the Executive Office of the President of the USA.
This blog usually receives 10-20 monthly visitors from Washington, DC — primarily from Congressional offices and special interest groups — so nothing seemed unusual until I checked this month’s service provider detail. “OMG!” was my first thought…and I probably can’t post what my second thought was…LOL!
I immediately followed with a flurry of clicks to verify a few more details and confirm its authenticity. I now have further validation to a phrase I use quite often in discussions about education — it all begins with the power of one.

School Board Meeting – June 16, 2010
Jun 14th
The Northwestern Lehigh School Board will meet on Wednesday, June 16th at 7:30 pm in the conference room of the District Administrative Offices.
Noteworthy highlights:
Item D – Facilities
1. Discussion and action on proposal for custodial services for Weisenberg Elementary School for the 2010-2011 school year.
Item E – District Finances
1. Approval of final 2010-2011 General Fund budget and supporting tax levies for Northwestern Lehigh School District as follows:
a. Budget Expenditures – $36,932,065.00
b. Local Tax Levies:
- Real Estate Tax – 50.66 mills (1.25 mill increase)
- Earned Income Tax – 1% (net .5%)
- Real Estate Transfer Tax, Act 511 – 1/2% for each of 4 townships
- Local Services Tax – $10
- Amusement Tax – 10%/not to exceed 40%
NEW — Agendas now include clickable links to discussion items.
This document reflects updated information received on Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The PSERS Crisis – Kicking the Can Further Down the Road with HB 2497
Jun 11th
The House Appropriations Committee approved HB 2497 which amends the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) and the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) codes by modifying their actuarial funding requirements.
This bill parallels the anticipated “fix” [and I that word loosely] by “kicking the can further down the road”, rather than addressing the significant issues of the looming pension crisis. Gov. Rendell endorsed this “solution” [and only a politician would deem it this] in his proposed 2010-11 state budget. It’s funny how politicians appear to develop short-term memories around election time [see below].
We should reduce the benefit level. We should reduce when those benefits accrue. We can’t afford it. It’s going to break school districts and the state. It was a giveaway. Interestingly, everyone got upset at the [2005 legislative] pay raise. The pay raise cost the taxpayers about 1/500th of what this [2001] pension grab is costing. And no one got mad at Gov. Ridge. No one got mad at the Legislature back then. I guess it’s because the impact is phased in over so many years. But this is a tsunami compared to the pay raise.
Governor Ed Rendell (during an interview with the Morning Call)
An actuarial note attached to this bill by the PERC (PA’s Public Employee Retirement Commission) estimates the higher costs in later years will far outweigh the contribution reductions in the earlier years – to the tune of an astonishing $52 billion MORE to achieve this “cost smoothing” over the next 30 years. See pages 10-11 of the document below.
Again, this legislative “solution” is projected to cost $52 billion more than the total amount of the current PSERS and SERS pension crisis already!
The following graphs are from “HB 2497 and the Pension Rate Spike”, prepared by PSERS & SERS upon request from the House Democratic Caucus, detailing the impact HB 2497 would have on the employer contribution rate spike and plateau facing both state pension systems. Note: Click on the images to enlarge them.
HB 2497′s Projection of Employer Contribution Dollars
HB 2497′s Projection of Total Employer Contribution Rate
HB 2497′s Projection of Unfunded Liabilities
HB 2497′s Projection of Funded Ratio
More information on HB 2497
Regarding PSERS, the bill re-amortizes all of the unfunded actuarial accrued liabilities of PSERS over a 30-year period using level percentage of pay amortization payments and extends from five to ten years the asset smoothing period beginning July 1, 2011. The bill also proposes to fund any increases in accrued liability enacted by legislation after June 30, 2010 over a ten-year period using level percentage of pay amortization payments. For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2010, HB 2497 establishes the total employer contribution rate as the final contribution rate of 5.0% of the total compensation for all active members, plus the premium assistance contribution rate.
The bill also imposes “collars” on the rate at which employer contributions may rise from year to year, establishing temporary collared contribution rates for fiscal years July 1, 2011, July 1, 2012 and on or after July 1, 2013, that if the contribution rate is more than 3%, 3.5% and 4.5%, respectively, of the total compensation of all active members greater than the prior year’s final contribution rate, then the collared contribution rate must be applied and equal to 3%, 3.5% and 4.5%, respectively, of total compensation for all active members. For all other fiscal years in which the actuarially required contribution rate is less than the collared rate, the bill establishes the final contribution rate as the actuarially required contribution rate, provided that the final contribution rate is not less than the employer normal contribution rate.
HB 2497 was amended by the committee to insert technical changes and also to allow any active member in the SERS, who was previously an active member of PSERS, to elect to become a multiple service member no later than 365 days after becoming an active member in SERS.
Source: PSBA’s Office of Governmental and Member Relations, Weekly Legislative Update, June 10, 2010
Transparency – Unlocking the Vault to Promote Understanding and Advocacy
Jun 7th

A few days after my post on May 1st, I received the following email from a parent in northeastern Pennsylvania. While I have received dozens of communications like this previously, this particular email offered a true sense of self validation in helping to make a real difference…even beyond the landscape of Northwestern Lehigh School District.
Mr. Fisher,
I happened upon your website www.prideandpromise.com and really would like to commend you on a well organized site that addresses issues so pertinent to all residents, students, and taxpayers in PA. I would truly appreciate and enjoy the opportunity to speak with you about the site and also about the issues you cover.
I reside in Northeastern PA and have been active as a taxpayer and parent in my school district’s discussions about finances and education. I am in the process of working with a group of other residents interested in more transparency and fiscal responsibilty within our district, given the current economic climate. After seeing the resources you have made available to residents in your area, I would love to see that type of resource available to our residents. Unfortunately, right now the school website is lacking and school board meeting agendas, notes, and budget proposals are not available unless you physically go to the school to review the information there.
I have seen other districts in PA such as Pennsbury and your site that disclose so much more information that I really feel like our area is behind and citizens are left in the dark. One other area I really took away from some of your posts is the actions that your school board is taking to address the PSERS crisis (specifically the letter to legislatures that your district sent asking for guidance and assistance with the upcoming pension increases). I feel like our board is not doing a lot if anything to address the dire circumstances the rates will create. (Unless of course, it is happening behind the scenes, although I doubt it, considering many of our school board directors have family employed as teachers in the district.
Well, now that I’ve given you a brief overview of my interests, I do hope that we can get in contact. And again, my congrats to you on a great website and the proactive discussions you advocate and approach.
Sincerely,
MH[Note: I have purposefully removed the author's name and contact information]
As you can probably guess – I was very eager to take advantage of this great opportunity to learn more on public input and perception. Our conversation lasted nearly two hours. During our dialog, it was clearly evident that some of my reasons for wanting to serve as a school board member were quickly reinforced.
Active and engaged stakeholders are a very important asset to any organization. Parents, students, teachers and community members NEED timely and concise information to issues that affect them and their school districts. Collectively, they WANT proactive communication…and they MUST “feel” engaged and a collaborative part of the process.
To start – transparency must become MORE than just a convenient buzz word for today. This initiative must be the foundation of district-wide commitments to developing policies and procedures to help open the doors to promote greater understanding and advocacy.
In building these strong alliances, technology-enabled stakeholders REQUIRE a new level of information access that has historically not been a part of the culture in public education. Now more than ever, technology infrastructure must be fully leveraged to create a searchable archive of information and applicable data. And any notion of our public’s perception to existing dead-ends and narrow, one-way streets filled with roadblocks must be completely eliminated.
We must continue to diligently transform any outdated ideologies into the necessary attitudes of customer service and fiscal responsibility to all our shareholders.
Here are a few suggestions from Benjamin DeGrow, Education Policy Analyst at the Education Policy Center in Golden, Colorado:
- Easy to find. Users should be able to find a link to the database of expenditures directly from the local education provider’s website.
- Detailed. Each expenditure should be attached to a unique record that at minimum includes: The transaction amount; the transaction date; the recipient’s name and address (if employee payroll is included, workplace addresses should be used to provide reasonable privacy), to ensure clear identification; the name of the budget fund; the budget fund’s associated revenue sources, to help determine whether an expenditure was funded by local and state taxes, federal grants, private grants, or user fees; and the purpose of the expenditure, so local education providers can explain once and avoid misunderstandings.
- Free to use. An “open” format ensures the user can access all available expenditure data without having to purchase additional software. To meet this criterion school agencies can export files into a free XML or CSV format, and upload the files to the online database for citizens to access.
- Searchable. A structured format ensures the user can find and sort expenditure data by relevant category details. Searchability is a highly important feature that distinguishes a user friendly online database from a descriptive PDF uploaded and posted online.
- Regularly updated. Since school districts and other education providers typically prepare financial reports for monthly board review, an update of expenditure data each month is entirely reasonable.
- Available notifications. Local education providers easily can create RSS feeds or similar mechanisms to which users may subscribe for automated notifications of data updates.
- Archived data. Expanding information technology capabilities will continue to enable low cost data storage. Expenditure data should not disappear, but should be kept in place permanently.
It’s time to unlock the vault.
Recap of Board Meeting on May 5, 2010 – Discussion of Proposed Final Budget
May 11th
The Northwestern Lehigh School Board reviewed key highlights of the Proposed Final 2010-11 General Fund Budget on May 5, 2010. The presentation offered four millage options for consideration.
A dynamic discussion ensued after a consensus could not be achieved for the 1.57 mil increase option, which included reductions from its approved Preliminary Budget on February 16, 2010.
A recommendation for a 1.25 mil increase appears on the agenda for this week’s school board meeting on May 12th.
A personal comment: As illustrated by only one community member in attendance at this budget meeting, the District needs to continue to explore new ways to enhance public awareness and engagement. During public comment, this resident also suggested the use of the new marquee as an additional means to advertise Board meetings. “Kudos” for sharing that idea.
School Board Meeting – May 12, 2010
May 7th
The Northwestern Lehigh School Board will meet on Wednesday, May 12th at 7:30 pm in the district administrative office. The scheduled agenda is posted below for your review.
Agenda highlights:
Item D – District Finances
1. Approval of PlanCon Part J Extension for Northwestern Elementary
Explanation: When a school district undertakes a major school construction project and seeks reimbursement from the Commonwealth, a process known as PlanCon is initiated. PlanCon, an acronym for Planning and Construction Workbook, is a set of forms and procedures used to apply for Commonwealth reimbursement. The forms are designed to:
- document a local school district’s planning process;
- provide justification for a project to the public;
- ascertain compliance with state laws, regulations and standards; and
- establish the level of state participation in the cost of the project.
PlanCon Part J (Project Accounting Based on Final Costs) is the final accounting for the construction project. The permanent reimbursable percent by the Commonwealth is calculated at this stage.
Item E – District Finances
1. Approval of proposed final 2010-2011 General Fund budget and supporting tax levies for Northwestern Lehigh School District as follows:
a. Budget Expenditures – $36,964,316.00
b. Local Tax Levies:
- Real Estate Tax – 50.66 mills (1.25 mill increase)
- Earned Income Tax – 1% (net .5%)
- Real Estate Transfer Tax, Act 511 – 1/2% for each of 4 townships
- Local Services Tax – $10
- Amusement Tax – 10%/not to exceed 40%







