Budget Questions from Public

On page 11, line 483 is listed as state money for "PARCC Readiness." Are these funds to be used to offset the cost of administering the PARCC, to offset the cost of setting up for the test (technology), or to implement test preparation activities in the classroom?

PARCC Readiness was a new category of state aid for 2015-2016 and is continuing for the 2016-2017 school year. All of the state aid categories are used to fund the budget in whole and not for any one specific program. In other words, we are not restricted in our use of these funds.

Page 11, line 500, "Other State Aids." What specific funds are we losing? Are these cuts to Montclair alone or cuts the state is making to districts across the state?

We are not losing any aid. In 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 the State lumped the Additional Adjustment Aid, PARCC Readiness Aid and Per Pupil Growth Aid into the Other State Aid category instead of listing them separately or in the case of the Additional Adjustment Aid lumping this with the Adjustment Aid like they did for 2016-2017. For the 2016-2017 year they listed them separately and added the additional funds for Professional Learning Community Aid.

Page 12, line 740: "Other Revenue from Local Sources" What local sources?

This is not the operating budget but is the special revenue fund for the local, state and federal restricted grants. The local grants are grants from the MFEE, PTAs and other local donors. We are not required to and do not budget revenue from these sources in advance, but rather book these revenues as they are received. Because they are outside of the operating budget, we also do not budget expenditures before the revenues are received.

Page 13, line 3060: "Other Purchased Services." What are these?

Photocopier leases and managed print services for the district's schools.

Page 15, line 19160: Have any decisions been made as to which programs will be cut?

The $15,000 listed is for the annual cost of the Developmental Learning Center's before and after-care program. This year, when we revised our district's Title I program during the course of the school year to focus on after-school tutoring programs for targeted students based on academic need, we also transferred some funds within the operating budget to supplement what was being funded through Title I. For 2016-2017, we will be starting the year with even more Title I funding designated for after-school tutoring programs. If we determine next year that we still need to supplement the after-school tutoring program with funds from the operating budget, we will make an appropriation adjustment as needed.

Page 17, line 45040 "Legal Services." There was a great increase in this year's budget for legal fees. Why will it go down next year? How much of this year's $488,324 allotment was spent on the assessment investigation?

We had $129,724 in legal purchase orders roll into the 2015-2016 school year as open encumbrances from the 2014-2015 school year as the matters for which the funds were encumbered were not settled. With each lawsuit that goes through the insurance company the district's deductible is $20,000. We create the PO for the entire deductible and then charge the bills that come in against the PO. When the case settles and there is a balance left we close out the PO and the funds remain in the account. Our actual expenditures for legal services in 2013-2014 were $239,640 plus an additional $129,724 in encumbrances that carried into the 2015-2016 school year (of which we closed some as the cases have settled and only have $76,807 left open as of today.) Our encumbrances to date for legal services in 2015-2016 are $358,339. As was the case last year, some of those encumbrances could roll into the 2016-2017 school year and/or be closed out with funds remaining.

Page 21, line 84000 "Transfer of Funds to Charter Schools": For what are we paying money to charter schools? Which charter schools will be receiving these funds?

The district has one resident student attending Phillip's Academy Charter School. The State notifies the district of how much tuition we are required to pay to the charter school during each budget cycle based upon the Application for State School Aid that is submitted the previous fall.

As I recall, we switched from whatever the prior student data system was to Skyward for the 2013-2014 school year. I see that the start up cost for Genesis, which will replace Skyward as I understand it, is $165k. I'm curious what the start up cost for Skyward was and why it doesn't meet the district's needs. Also, what are the annual costs for operating each system?

Below are a cost comparison and a table explaining our concerns/problems with Skyward and why we believe Genesis will be far better at meeting the district's need

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