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12/30/2009 12:00 AMAnne Williams, Bemidji Pioneer Bemidji Area Schools’ board of education approved a 1.9 percent increase in the levy on Dec. 21. The preliminary levy limitation was set in September and needed to be finalized in December. Increasing local property values and no increases in state aid prompted the board’s approval of the increase. For the 2009-10 fiscal year, the District operated on a $57,098,466 revenue budget. 73 percent of its incoming funding came from the state; 19 percent came from local funds; and 13 percent came from federal funds. Approximately 75 percent of the District’s budget goes toward staff salaries and benefits, with 25 percent remaining to service all other areas. Bemidji Schools’ business manager Chris Leinen says he worries more about the state’s budget. “The state provides the lion’s share of funding for the District,” Leinen said. “We get $41 million from the state. Since they provide so much of our funding, if they have to reduce somewhere, it’s going to affect us dramatically.” In the past four years, the District has received less than 1 percent increase in state funding, Leinen said. The school board has no authority to tax on its own. The state Legislature passes laws that allow the board to put a tax in place. Voters in a community can also vote to put a tax in place, such as the operating referendum levy that was approved last year for $501 per pupil. “If the school board doesn’t levy dollars locally, they will lose state funds,” Leinen said. “School boards don’t always have the choice.” Schools are funded based on the number of students they have. The Basic State Aid Funding formula per student is weighted, meaning some students are more expensive to educate then others. High school students generate more funding than fourth-graders or kindergarteners. In 1996, Bemidji Area Schools experienced an enrollment of roughly 5,600 students. Enrollment declined to a low of about 4,600 students in 2006, a drop of 17 percent in the number of students over the course of 11 years. Today, Bemidji Area Schools reports an enrollment of 4,669 and projects that in 2010 it will have 4,744 students. The District reports that significant declines in student numbers over the past 10 years have finally leveled out. Based on area birth rates, Leinen projects a growth in the lower grades will offset declines at the upper grades. “If our students go up, some of our levies may go up,” Leinen said. “This doesn’t mean new money. It’s driven by the number of students and then based on the local taxable valuation.” http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100014522/ | |||||||||||||||||||||
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