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Budget Highlights from proposed school budget December 2012


Budget Highlights

The proposed Rye School District gross budget for 2013-2014 is $12,938,447. This is a

$143,663 increase or 1.12% over the 2012-2013 budget.

The net operating budget, which is the budget amount less revenues and credits, is

$11,940,235. This net operating budget is associated with the district assessment and is

$190,536 more than the assessment for 2012-2013.

Net budgetary change, which is the proposed 2013-2014 budget compared to the 2012-

2013 adopted budget less one-time special warrant article is increasing $225,663 or

2.02%.

The average annual gross budget increase over the prior:

three (3) years: 2.40%

five (5) years: 2.52%

ten (10) years: 4.13%

The major increase to the budget is the appropriation for the District’s portion of the New

Hampshire Retirement System for certified staff. The District’s contribution rate is

increasing from 11.3% to 14.16% for 2013-2014. This represents a budgetary increase of

$106,346 or 25.31%.

Other major increases in budgetary line accounts are:

Tuition to Private Schools –Elementary $91,653

Health Insurance 73,013

IST Integrator Salary (reorganization) 71,400

District Share of SAU 50 69,513

Tuition to Private Schools – Middle 49,312

The major decrease in the budget is classroom teaching positions at the Rye Elementary

School. There are 28 teaching positions at the school and for 2013-2014 it was

recommended by the administration to eliminate one (1) full time classroom teaching

position, one (1) part time position has been reduced from 60% to 30%, and one (1) part

time position has been reduced from 40% to 30%.

Other major decreases in budgetary line accounts are:

IST Coordinator (reorganization) $(71,372)

Tuition to Other LEAs –High (51,966)

Teaching Salaries –Middle (38,955)

Special Education Aides Salaries –Elem. (35,120)

Tuition to Private Schools – High (30,925)

The proposed tuitioning appropriation for students to attend Portsmouth High School is

decreasing for 2013-2014 by $51,966. It is estimated that there will be 198 students as

compared to the students budgeted in 2012-2013 of 209. The 2013-2014 tuition rate is

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estimated to be $14,277 per student or an increase of $365 or 2.69%.

Certified teaching staff, in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement, will

receive an average increase of 3.72%.

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Support staff, which unionized in the late 1990s, are in the process of negotiating a new

collective bargaining agreement with the Rye School Board. As of the printing of this

report a tentative agreement between the two (2) parties has not been reached.

In preparing the budget, the economic conditions of the area were considered and only

items necessary for the operation of the District were included in order to present the

lowest possible budget to the residents of the District.

Tax Impact

It is anticipated that the district assessment for the proposed 2013-2014 budget will increase

approximately $143,663. The district assessment is extremely important as this is the amount of

funds that must be raised through property taxes. Based on the current net assessed valuation, it

is estimated that it will take $1,752,828 in increased appropriations to raise the tax rate $1.00 per

$1,000 of property valuation or $17,528 in increased appropriations to raise the tax rate $0.01 per

$1,000 of property valuation.

The district assessment, before any increases for any warrant article, will increase by $0.11 per

$1,000 of property valuation. For comparison purposes, the tax rate associated with the school

for 2012-2013 increased $0.37 with an additional $0.02 increase from the State. Of the

anticipated $0.11 increase in the tax rate, approximately $0.03 of this amount is due to the

anticipated unreserved fund balance.