The Kennett Consolidated School District Board of Education in session, Monday night.
Slow real estate rebound, charter school hit cited as causes
By Eliza Mohler, Correspondent, Kennett Times
KENNETT SQUARE – Monday night’s board meeting of the Kennett Consolidated School District saw the release of the preliminary 2017-2018 budget for the district, which includes a proposed tax increase of $148 per average household.
Board Treasurer Michael Finnegan cited the loss of government funds to charter schools and the lack of turnaround in the Kennett Square real estate market as two reasons why taxes need to be raised as part of the new budget.
“The housing market hasn’t gotten better here,” Finnegan said. “We’re worse off than we were in 2007 with total assessments.” He also noted that the state’s funding formulas for charter schools that are attended by students who reside within the district are “not very fair,” and that charter school tuition expenses for the district will account for $3,250,000 of the 2017-2018 budget.
Board President Kendra LaCosta opened the meeting. The entire Board was present, as was Superintendent Barry Tomasetti. The preliminary budget, which was the primary focus of the meeting, is currently set at $84,510,237. During his presentation, Finnegan noted that the preliminary budget is 77% funded by property tax dollars, with 22% contributed by the state government and 1% by the federal government, which is applied to Title IX programs.
The preliminary budget was approved by the board, and LaCosta thanked Finnegan for his work. The budget will be made available for public review on the district website (www.kcsd.org), and public comment will be accepted by the office of the superintendent from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, until June 12, 2017.
Under a separate agenda item, the calendar for the 2017-2018 academic year was approved. It will start on Monday, August 28, 2017, and is scheduled to end on Thursday, June 7, 2018, depending on the possible need for more than the six allotted inclement weather days.
In other news, a travel request was approved for 38 students from Kennett High School to attend the Future Business Leaders of America’s state leadership conference in Hershey, from Sunday, April 2 until Wednesday, April 5. The number of attendees this year breaks the School’s previous record of 33 students who went to the state event in 2016. Winners at the state level will advance to the national competition in California in summer 2017.
Kennett High School will hold its annual Mini-THON at the school’s gymnasium from 10 p.m. on Friday, February 24, until 6 a.m. on Saturday, February 25. Proceeds from this fundraiser will go to support the fight against pediatric cancer. More information is available at www.khsminithon.org.
