The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The Board of Education on April 25 approved its $194.1 million FY 2025 general fund budget, which carries a small school portion tax increase.
The newly minted budget is roughly $7 million more than the district’s FY 2024 spending plan. School budgets take effect on July 1, so their impact is felt in the last two quarters of one year and the first two quarters of the following year.
Fueling the increase were several major line items: a $1.4 million increase in charter school tuition, a $3.5 million increase in student transportation, a $3 million increase in employee benefit costs and a $387,000 reduction in state aid.
The budget is powered by a $162,114,985 tax levy. The tax rate per $100 of assessed valuation decreased slightly, from $1.19 per $100 to $1.12 per $100.
The township’s total assessed valuation increased from $13.7 billion to $14.9 billion, and the average home assessment increased from $436,885 to $477,100, translating to a school portion property tax of $5,350 – a $112 increase from last year – on that average assessed home.
Major goals to be reached by the budget include:
- Support district initiatives that ensure the physical and mental well-being and safety of students and staff, for a total of $1,018,250.
- Support the expansion of Pre-K-12 specialized programs, for a total of $2,217,500.
- Support the continued professional development of staff consistent with the district’s equity goals, especially in the area of culturally and linguistically responsive instruction, technology and content specialization, for $150,000.
- Foster, encourage and expand relationships with the community at large for $122,000.
Another goal, to promote sustainability and decrease energy consumption, was primarily being reached through the district’s solar panel program, Ravally said.
He said the district’s revenue form solar panel stock sales was $85,000 yearly, while the electrical cost savings amounted to about $83,000 yearly.
Among the larger projects being undertaken through this budget is the addition of 85 Pre-K seats, at a cost of $1,350,000. The program is grant-funded, but the money must be accounted for in the budget.
The budget also provides $265,000 for an expansion of the elementary school Autism program, $150,000 for World Language programs, $110, for an expansion of bilingual programs, and $220,000 for new teachers.
