It’s about to get real, people. I have been pouring over spreadsheets for
days, trying to make heads and tails over the consolidation plans and the new
proposals. And here is where it gets
real-not only should the school district stick with their original plan, they should
probably be looking at additional schools-I am looking at you, Sharon
Elementary.
One of the arguments I keep hearing is that Orem carries the
district and has been paying for new construction in our high growth areas
(Lehi, Saratoga Springs, and Eagle Mountain).
And I keep hearing that Orem is getting the shaft, so I decided to see
if it was true.
Let’s start with some basic info. Where does funding for schools come
from? We have about 40+ different
streams of revenue income from school bus funding to free and reduced school
lunches to property taxes to youth in custody to Title 1.
But the majority of our funding comes from 2 sources: 76% of our funding comes from the state of
Utah. 100% of our state income taxes go
to education and that comes back to our district in the form of a WPU, which
means Weighted Pupil Unit. The current
WPU is $3,184. The WPU is basically the
amount of money tied to each student (there is also additional funding for kids
who qualify for programs like special ed, kids at risk, the homeless, minority,
etc.).
So, the biggest chunk of our funding comes from
enrollment-76%. The next big chunk comes
from property taxes-17%. Orem does
currently contribute the largest percentage to the property tax pot-their
contribution to property taxes is 26% of the ASD total. But there has been a trend occurring for the
last several years. In 2013, Orem was
contributing 30% of the property taxes allotted to the district. And Lehi was contributing 18%. There has been a shift as the growth in Lehi
has exploded, particularly in the business sector. In 2016 (the last year that we have
information), Lehi had grown to 20% of the district property taxes while Orem’s
contribution had dropped to 26%.
Everything points to this trend as one that will continue. Lehi’s property tax contribution will continue
to grow.
Orem brings in $6,140 per kid. But we are funding some of their schools with
local money (state income taxes and property taxes) up to 148% per
student. What does that mean? It means that Orem is getting $4,306,831 over
what they contribute (I only figured in elementary schools in this
equation-when you add secondary schools, the pot grows even bigger). It means that a school in Lehi that is only
being funded at 83% is paying for Orem schools.
It means that Orem is being subsidized by the rest of the district. Orem is not carrying us, we are carrying
them.
Another example-even though Orem, Lehi, and Saratoga
Springs/Eagle Mountain all have roughly the same student populations
(15,500-17,000) Orem has 21 schools to Lehi’s 15 and the west side’s 16. But what about square footage? Lone Peak has the lowest square footage per student
in a high school at 115 while Mountain View boasts 234.
In every metric being used (allocated money per student,
number of buildings, square footage), Orem comes out the winner. The losers are our high growth areas.
What does that mean if we are looking at the numbers? It means that Lone Peak needs an additional
permanent wing added to their school. It
means that the board should not be rebuilding Geneva for a declining student
population that is already subsidized to the tune of $792,100. And that is every year. It means that if the board rebuilds Geneva,
it costs Lone Peak an addition or an overcrowded Lehi elementary school gets
put on the back burner.
I get it. Election
year is looming next year. But here is
where it gets real. I don’t care. I don’t care about politics and threats and
district splits. The numbers say that
Orem is already getting the lion’s share-at the cost of our children in
Highland and Alpine and Cedar Hills and Lehi and Saratoga Springs and Eagle
Mountain. The board can hear the pleas
of parents in Orem and be respectful of their desires for small schools while
also realizing that the numbers simply do not support maintaining the status
quo. They need to speak for the close to
80,00 children they are supposed to speak for.
The numbers are clear cut.
Please contact all board members and let them know of your concerns
about the Orem consolidation plan.
Julie,
ReplyDeleteI love that you have poured over the spreadsheets and that you cite numbers from those.
I’m an Orem citizen and parent. I am one that firmly believes that Orem is paying more than its share. Orem tax payers have consistently contributed more than they get back. This includes bonds and operating expenses.
Orem has contributed tens of millions of dollars (~$90 Million dollars) more that Orem tax payers have received on bonds since 2001. Orem citizens have already paid for several schools in North Utah County.
In reference to the data that you refer to, initially it looks like Orem is being subsidized by ~$5.67 Million dollars a year. However, the data isn’t as clear cut as it looks on the surface. Consider the following:
1 – All expenses for the specialty high schools (Summit High and Polaris High) that cost $5.4 Million dollars are all allocated to Orem when those schools benefit the whole district. Take those out and the annual operational costs are close to a wash.
2 - The expenses related to Title I schools are allocated to Orem but those numbers are juxtaposed against Orem property taxes. Title I money comes from the federal government. Add that back in and we're likely running a significant surplus. In another document, Rob Smith shared that Orem receives $7.5 M in Title I funds.
3 - The expenses also include expenses related to educating Vineyard students for Jr. High and High School and Lindon students for High School. To get a clear picture you need to either combine the property tax revenue and expenses for those cities with Orem or remove those expenses when you are looking at the net. In other words, a larger surplus.
The message that I'm hearing is that yes, Orem Schools are smaller right now. However, Orem pays more than its share in both bond money and also in the operating expenses from year to year.
I’d love to exchange information or update anything you see is off!
All the best,
Tom Meservy
Here are a couple of other documents that may be of interest:
1 – This spreadsheet shows information requested by an Orem citizen about the revenues and expenses per pupil for Orem students. It tells a very similar story… Orem is paying more than they are receiving. The original document referenced was provided by Rob Smith:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jR4mg27Nv8-U-iBsJjelyDNCafPC4PiIYfcd0s6_H_s/edit?usp=sharing
2 – This document lists the assessed property taxes by city and the student enrollments by city. You get a sense of who is contributing more property tax and who is contributing less:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5kqShYY38WMVFJNX1FYMnRqUzQ/view?usp=sharing
3 – This is a document that I put together that shows the assessed value of property taxes over the years:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5kqShYY38WMdkhzcUhUU3FMSms/view?usp=sharing
4 – Here is the packet of information that the district sent the City of Orem. I’m pretty confident you have seen this information:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5kqShYY38WMVFJNX1FYMnRqUzQ/view?usp=sharing
Tom-thanks for your thoughtful response. I will try to respond later, as I am running out the door. First off, I hope you realize this is not an anti-Orem post. I actually have a kid who attends school in Orem. I only looked at student enrollment at the schools-I purposefully left out any and all specialty schools (Polaris, Summit in Orem, East Shore and Dan Peterson in AF, and Horizon in SS) because their funding is different with special ed, youth in custody, etc. and I was trying to only look apples to apples as much as possible. The $4.3 million number was one based on Orem school enrollment in elementary schools with the funding generated by that city ($6,140) minus what each school was allocated times each child in that school.
DeleteI hear what you are saying about Orem having given more in the past-absolutely true. But that is sometimes how it works. I have paid a lot of taxes into public safety and definitely not used what I have been taxed for my police and fire departments in my city. And I have paid a lot into schools that have benefited others. My kids have attended 4 elementary schools-1 in Lehi and 3 in SS. When new schools are built, I have spent money to develop Take Home Reading Library, media centers, and PTA programs. Every time we were sent to a new school, we left those resources behind for others to enjoy and we started from scratch to create those same things at our new schools. I appreciate your comments and will look at the links you provided. I am open to ideas about how we can solve this. I will be at the board meeting tonight-I would love to chat with you!
Julie- I'd love to chat with you to show you what I found. Its simply that both Operational Costs and long-term capital costs, Orem continues to provide a surplus to the rest of the district. One point of correction in my above comment, I discovered where Rob is accounting for Title I funding in his equation, so that is already accounted for.
DeleteRemove the specialty schools and it is a wash. Appropriately account for students who attend Orem schools from their respective cities and it turns into a surplus. Using the district's data.
Are you going to be at the meeting tonight? Perhaps I can show you what I see. I love that the district has released this information so that we can have meaningful conversations. All the best!