Lower Merion School Board Petition #2

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, HEREBY PETITION THE MEMBERS OF THE LOWER MERION SCHOOL BOARD TO DISCONTINUE ITS PRACTICE OF ASSESSING TAXES IN EXCESS OF THE FUNDS NEEDED TO COVER EDUCATION EXPENSES AND TO APPLY TAX REVENUES ONLY TO THOSE EXPENSES FOR WHICH THEY ARE COLLECTED. SPECIFICALLY, WE DEMAND THAT EXCESS TAX REVENUES COLLECTED TO PAY FOR PROJECTED EDUCATION EXPENSES NOT BE APPLIED TO THE CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM IN AN EFFORT TO CIRCUMVENT PA ACT 1, BUT BE USED TO PAY FOR FUTURE EDUCATION EXPENSES.

On January 22, 2007, the Lower Merion School Board announced that it would apply a $20.1 Million surplus to the capital construction program in order to avoid having the public vote on the debt service required to build the second of two new high schools, a vote that would otherwise be required under PA Act 1.

The surplus comes from three years of collecting excess taxes under the pretext that the assessed amounts were required to cover education expenses. The amounts are:

A $6.5 Million surplus from the 2005-2006 school year. Note that PA Act 72 of 2004 was the handwriting on the wall for Act 1 of 2006, which is the Act that the Board is circumventing with their found millions.

A projected $8.5 Million surplus from the 2006-2007 school year. Note that in the debate over that historically high budget increase, the Board refused to cut one dollar from the budget claiming that every dollar was necessary to cover the education program. The Board refused this, despite the $6.5 Million surplus from the prior year and despite the fact that the 2006-2007 budget included a $4.4 Million Fall 2006 loan payment for the Harriton debt that would not be needed as the Board had already published the Harriton schedule showing the February 2007 bid opening. The Board now claims recent delays caused the bid opening to shift, delaying the need to issue the debt until the Spring of 2007. Because of the Board's refusal to disclose it's line item budget detail, the public had no way of knowing of this $15.1 Million surplus amount until the Board disclosed it on January 22, 2007.

A planned $5.1 Million surplus in the proposed 2007-2008 school year budget. This excess tax assessment is a result of the Districts philosophy that it must assess taxes in an amount that is just under the PA Act 1 voting trigger, even though such amounts exceed those needed for education expenses. The Board has adopted what its Business Manager referred to as USE IT OR LOSE IT!

The signers of this petition demand that the Lower Merion School Board reverse all previous decisions and resolutions that have led to the misuse of tax revenues and that the Board conduct a transparent audit of its revenues and cost so that the public can see how tax revenues are being spent. If the Board were to apply the current excess revenues to future education expenses, based on interest income and the Districts latest budget projections, no tax increase will be necessary for the next two school years.

For more facts supporting this and other issues critical to the public education of our children, visit Budget Reform for Student Learnings website at www.lmsd.info. Also, please consider signing Lower Merion School Board Petition #1.