- Wed Feb 18, 2009 1:38 pm
#286620
Yesterday Cassandra Walwendah and I plus about 36 other residents attended the Norristown Area School board meeting to learn more about how our property taxes were being spent on education. The board passed a 124 million dollar school budget for approximately 6 thousand students in the district. The budget includes the salaries for 1200 employees. Depending on how much Federal and State Aid the district receives , property taxes could increase somewhere from 3 to 6 percent. The current budget is preliminary and there are still many unknown factors. Ed Ward and Michael Howell presented a $118 million budget but it was voted down by the other members of the board . To keep track of the school budget debate check out the East Norriton web site at http://www.eastnorritonresidents.org/14.html or the school district web site at http://www.nasd.k12.pa.us/ and click on “Board Docs” for future board meetings. Since four of the school board members are up for election May 19th, you may find these documents help you to make an informed choice.
Like many my retirement savings have been severely impacted by the recession so I am looking closely at all my expenses including property taxes. Even if East Norrtion retirees could sell their houses in this housing market, when young families with children move in (no single older person is going buy a house with so little public transportation and horrible traffic) the costs to the school district would go up considerably.
One citizen remarked that at $19,000 per student our school district is spending more for inferior student performance than other districts in the area are for better performance. The board said that the cost per student varies depending on the needs of the child for special education. It was unclear to me how much more charter school and vocational students cost the district. I think companies that hire vocational students should subsidize their education, if they are not already. It was also unclear to me how much of the increase in teacher’s salaries was a COLA increase or a merit increase. With the decrease in oil and housing expenses I would not expect a big COLA increase. I don’t yet know how they determine merit pay.
Times Herald Staff reporter Carl Rotenberg published an excellent and more objective report of the school board meeting today at http://www.timesherald.com/articles/200 ... 858346.txt
Like many my retirement savings have been severely impacted by the recession so I am looking closely at all my expenses including property taxes. Even if East Norrtion retirees could sell their houses in this housing market, when young families with children move in (no single older person is going buy a house with so little public transportation and horrible traffic) the costs to the school district would go up considerably.
One citizen remarked that at $19,000 per student our school district is spending more for inferior student performance than other districts in the area are for better performance. The board said that the cost per student varies depending on the needs of the child for special education. It was unclear to me how much more charter school and vocational students cost the district. I think companies that hire vocational students should subsidize their education, if they are not already. It was also unclear to me how much of the increase in teacher’s salaries was a COLA increase or a merit increase. With the decrease in oil and housing expenses I would not expect a big COLA increase. I don’t yet know how they determine merit pay.
Times Herald Staff reporter Carl Rotenberg published an excellent and more objective report of the school board meeting today at http://www.timesherald.com/articles/200 ... 858346.txt
If you don't take care of the land, it can't take care of you