Schools
Rockwood Schools Face Huge Deficit by 2013
The district's board of education directors could seek a tax hike that would offset a revenue shortage of $8 to $16 million in the 2012-2013 school year.
Rockwood School District voters could be asked for a tax increase of anywhere from 32 cents to 62 cents to head off an expected $8 to $16 million deficit in the 2012-2013 fiscal year.
District managers forecast revenues of $202.7 million against expenses of $211.1 million for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, but state funding cuts and the continuing economic downturn could boost that number.
officials presented the forecasts at Thursday's districtwide Stakeholder Input Meeting hosted at Rockwood Summit High School in Fenton. The meeting was part of the district’s Guiding Change Fiscal Year 2013 Sustainable Budget Process.
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The process is designed to gain input from district taxpayers to help develop a financial plan for the coming fiscal years, including parents of , , , , , , , , , , and .
Another contributing factor to the district’s bleak financial picture is the state’s school funding formula. Pending legislation in the Missouri general Assembly to change the formula could lower Rockwood’s share of the formula an additional $3.3 million annually and result in a $7.9 million reduction in fiscal year 2012-2013, said Shirley Broz, the district’s chief financial and legislative affairs officer.
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The district already has a road map to $5.34 million in cost savings for fiscal year 2012-2013, and it includes cuts in educational programs, reductions in staff salary increases and eliminating some staff positions.
If those planned costs savings go into effect, the district will have made a total of almost $22.4 million in cuts since the 2007-2008 fiscal year, Broz said.
Superintendent Bruce Borchers said the cuts could be presented to the board of education for action at its May 5 regular meeting.
According to the district, a tax increase of 32 cents per $100 in assessed valuation could raise $10.2 million in additional revenue; an increase of 42 cents could raise $13.4 million; a 52-cent increase could raise $16.6 million and a 62-cent increase could raise $19.8 million.
The Board of Education directors need to decide by Aug. 29 to put any tax referendum on the November ballot.
Currently Rockwood has a tax rate of $4. 2752 per $100 in assessed valuation. The last time the district had a tax proposition was in 1994 when voters approved a $1.23 tax increase.
About 75 taxpayers and district officials attended the meeting. Matt Doell, a candidate for the Rockwood Board of Education on April 5, said that with the fluctuations in state funding it’s too early to determine if a tax increase, or what amount, will be needed.
“If all of those things were certain then they’d (the district) know what will take to run the district at the levels that it is,” Doell said. “Right now they’re making contingency plans just in case, but it’s far from certain. It will be needed if the state funding cuts happen. If the state takes all the money away from the district they could take away, in the end the voters will have to decide whether they want to reduce the quality of the schools or take a tax increase.”
Another Stakeholder Input Meeting for districtwide community residents is scheduled at 7 p.m., Feb. 28, at Crestview Middle School, 16025 Clayton Rd., in Ellisville.