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Support no tax increase GO Bond election

Posted 3/29/23

To the Editor : 

We are happy to be back in Howard County and the Fayette School District in time to vote in support of the upcoming no tax increase General Obligation (GO) Bond election …

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Support no tax increase GO Bond election

Posted

To the Editor

We are happy to be back in Howard County and the Fayette School District in time to vote in support of the upcoming no tax increase General Obligation (GO) Bond election for Fayette R-III.  As a school finance officer for the last 17 years, I have a keen understanding of funding and facility needs for public schools in Missouri.  I recently retired as Chief Financial and Operations Officer of Kansas City Public Schools after also serving 11 years in the same role at Columbia Public Schools.  Today, I serve as the Senior Director of School Finance for the Missouri School Boards Association supporting schools boards and leaders across the state.  

Our state school funding formula is designed with the intent that the majority of financial support for our schools comes directly from the local community via their property tax dollars.  In the state of Missouri, public schools have two ways to issue debt (borrow).  They can either come to their voters and ask for permission as Fayette R-III is doing now or they can use the operating budget to support the debt. When the operating budget is used, one of two things must occur.  Either increased revenue is coming in that can be used to make the principal and interest payments or other costs must be cut in order to afford the debt payments. Every organization and system can find some places to make cost reductions, however they must be sustainable in the long-term and they must accumulate enough dollars to really have an impact.  When I review the operating budget of the Fayette R-III schools, there is minimal new annual revenue (remember state funding is flat) and it is difficult to see where such cuts could come without adversely impacting student experience.  Most debt issued for schools in Missouri comes via a ballot like the one we are considering now.

The State of Missouri does not provide funding for construction and improvement of facilities.  They provide partial funding for day-to-day operations and the rest is up to each individual community.  For this reason, school boards come to their communities for permission to issue debt and repay it over time with a specific debt service levy (tax).  If this GO Bond does not pass, taxes may decrease slightly and passing this GO Bond will not cause your taxes to go up.  School boards across Missouri regularly and out of concern for the taxes their property owners pay, wait until they can afford to take on new debt without raising taxes.  The repairs and improvements to be made with this new money are not suddenly urgent, but rather thoughtfully and carefully planned and timed to be able to be done without increasing our taxes.

Some facts about the upcoming GO Bond election:

1) It does allow for the issuance of new debt.

2) Your taxes will not go up due to a yes vote for this new debt.

3) A no vote will not cause savings of $350,000 that could move to the operating budget for repairs.

4) Neighboring schools may have a higher, lower, or no debt service levy, however relying on the operating budget to support major expenses may be unrealistic.  Many districts who do not have local support are forced to fund long term needs with small annual repair and maintenance budgets.  When this occurs, it simply costs more over time.  When you repair aged equipment repeatedly until it dies, it is a more costly approach than replacing it when needed. 

5) The money from the new debt must be used as described in the ballot language you approve.

6) The amount of annual principal and interest payments for schools differs from your standard home mortgage as the annual payment amount ebbs and flows year to year, so it may increase and decrease year to year while our tax rate remains flat.

7) Fayette R-III did wisely use a portion of the free federal dollars (1.9 million) from ESSER and CARES Act to make air conditioning improvements in some buildings, but unfortunately there was not enough to do all that is needed.  I commend them for this plan and work as many schools in Missouri used the money solely to cover existing operating costs.  This was a smart and thoughtful way to use the one-time free funds from the federal government which reduced the need for us to pay more in taxes.

8) The ballot language will say “without limitations” again as a common and best practice.  While the School Board and Administration have a very detailed and specific plan for what will be done with this new money, it is impossible at this point to know exactly what those projects will cost in the future.  This ballot language allows them to adjust slightly for changes in estimated costs and adjust slightly should some other emergency need occur.  However, it does obligate them to the commitment they are making in the bond language. 

The Missouri funding formula and other state aid for schools have been funded below what is obligated for most of the recent 10 years and is forecasted to be flat for next year and coming years.  This means that without local support there will be no raises for teachers and staff and no increases for the rising cost of things such as utilities, insurance, supplies, all of which we know to be increasing for each of us.  There is a crisis in Missouri relating to what we pay our educators and it is real in Howard County.  Not providing at least modest increases each year to help teachers afford to remain in our school systems will cripple our schools and our children will be adversely impacted.  We must do all we can for the children of our community and provide them with the best possible education. Safe learning environments is an important part of doing all we can.

We are proud to be back in the community where we both graduated, and our successful adult children graduated.  While we currently have no family in the Fayette R-III schools, we support this GO Bond election wholeheartedly for the children in the school system and those coming in years ahead.  Our community needs great schools to remain viable and keeping the facilities up to date modestly is only one part of the support needed.  Failure to support our schools financially could over time cause us to lose our local schools.  Please vote yes on April 4th for the no tax increase Bond Election for Fayette R-III.

Linda Bond Quinley

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