Last month, BSD’s School Board unanimously approved a proposed budget for next school year. Entering into our budget planning, we knew that the District’s baseline budget was predicted to go up $3.5 million without adding any new programming. Our projections showed that a budget increase of $3.5 million would have resulted in a 10.5% tax increase. The Board and I knew we needed to bring that tax impact down and we worked closely to do so.
Because of careful financial management over the past five years, we were able to use a $1.3 million surplus to bring the tax impact down to 8.5%. Our District leadership then went line-by-line to identify additional savings and the Board also made suggestions. Ultimately, the Board voted to make more than $1 million of reductions, which allowed us to add a few key investments while still bringing the estimated tax rate increase down to 7.36% for property payers and 3.18% for income payers.
In addition, we have begun to pay back debt associated with our voter-approved capital plan. Thank you for supporting the plan, Burlington, and thank you to everyone who attended our recent Ribbon Cutting on the Edmunds Campus which demonstrates how your tax dollars are being spent in the service of our students.
For a complete budget breakdown, including all additions and reductions, please view our budget presentation or take a look at our proposed budget one-pager.
Don’t forget to vote on March 3rd!
Join the Journey,
Superintendent Obeng
