School Board Approves 2012-13 Proposed Final Budget (BUDGET POSTED!)

Last night, the school board approved the 2012-13 Proposed Final Budget in the amount of $80,623,500 at a millage rate of 27.13 which is an increase of .5 mills over the previous year's budget. The Board plans to continue budget discussions at the May 14 Discussion Meeting.

Update 10:15 PM The 2012-13 Proposed Final Budget has been posted. http://www.mtlsd.org/district/budget/stuff/2012.13_proposed_budget_4.16.12.pdf

Anyone for a game of Charades? (Updated)

Tonight, the school board will be voting on a proposed budget.  The amount of the tax increase will be revealed tonight.  While we wait anxiously for those numbers, I thought I would share a few articles pertaining to the so-called "exemptions."

Education Spending: The Rest of the Story

As parents and taxpayers, Pennsylvanians should hear all the facts on education spending. The next time education unions and other special interests bully and demand more money "for the kids," remember what they aren't telling you—the rest of the story.

School spending: The exemption ruse

School boards' authority must be redesigned

Time to End Tax Hike Exceptions

Lebo Takes Stage for Act 1

And so it begins

Monday's school board agenda has its first (that has been made public) change order.

High School Project Change Order HS2012-1: RESOLVED, That the Board approves a change order in the amount of $_______to Nello Construction for replacement of ground material as necessary for the high school project as per the attached list.

This agenda item follows the always transparent, proposed final budget approval for the 2012-2013 school year:

2012-2013 Proposed Final Budget: RESOLVED, That the Board approves a Proposed Final Budget for the 2012-13 school year in the amount of $_____at a millage rate of_____which is an increase of ____mills over the 2011-12 school year.

School Board Mailing (Updated)

This afternoon, I sent the following email to the school board and cc'ed Cissy Bowman and Susan Morgans.  Analytics tells me that Josephine paid a visit to my blog today. Perhaps it was to see if I wrote anything about my email. So that I don't disappoint her, this is what I sent:

The recent mailing from the school board did not make the mailboxes on [my street.] Is your letter available online somewhere? If not, how do we get additional copies? We do not have a regular mail carrier and have had trouble receiving other mailings in the past.
Elaine Gillen

I am hopeful for a response from her.  In the meantime, I saw this was just added to the District website.

School Board Continues Budget DiscussionsThe School Board continued discussion of the budget at the April 2, 2012 Discussion Meeting. The Board reviewed each item on the reduction list, removing the Community Service Coordinator position and IST position. For the complete list of reductions still under consideration by the Board, and a recent Budget Newsletter sent to Mt. Lebanon residents, click the link above. The final vote on the budget will take place at the May 21 Regular School Board Meeting.

Click here for the direct link to the Budget Newsletter. 

Spoiler alert: 

For More Information

Please visit www.mtlsd.org for in-depth budget updates and videos of our budget discussions. We will con- tinue to broadcast all public meetings on Cable Channel 19 and on our website, and mail periodic newslet- ters. If you have a question and can’t attend a meeting, please feel free to share your comments with the School Board at schoolboard@mtlsd.net. Your feedback is an important part of this process.

The school board will be voting on the proposed budget at the Monday, April 16 meeting. However, it is quite difficult to provide any feedback when the proposed budget is dated February 6, 2012. In addition, Posti still doesn't come clean by informing the community that the $900,000 grievance has the potential to be recurring for the next 15-20 years.

Update April 12, 2012 11:30 PM Please check out this blog posting of September 30, 2008 by School Board Director James Fraasch.   http://lebosbupdates.blogspot.com/2008/09/current-economics-and-psers.html 
You were warned, Josephine.