Boone school officials take concern to Frankfort

Boone County school officials will meet with Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher's chief of staff this afternoon to discuss the district's financial viability following a new county property reassessment that could cost the district up to $5.2 million in state support.

The hastily scheduled meeting in Frankfort is the latest development in the ongoing battle to get additional state funding for what has become - by far - the fastest-growing school district in the state.

This week, that battle fast-forwarded when administrators got word that a state emergency reassessment of commercial property values in the county could cost the district $5.2 million in state funding.

"We live with the reality that for every two dollars we pay, only a dollar goes back to Boone County," said state Rep. Addia Wuchner Wednesday. "For the majority of the state's districts, they put in 75 cents and get a dollar back."

After meeting with Boone school officials earlier this week, the Florence Republican arranged a meeting with Stan Cave, the governor's chief of staff, in hopes of spotlighting the problem come January's legislative budget session...

This from the Cincinnati Post.

Revaluation leaves Boone County Schools between a rock and a hard place

This from the Cincinnati Post.

While it's good news for Boone County homeowners, a recent revaluation of commercial property could spell serious trouble for the county's school system.

In fact, unless something changes, it will mean a $5 million budget shortfall for the Boone County Schools, officials say.

They will be scrambling today to nail down the numbers and come up with options in preparation for a press conference on Thursday.

"We don't have a contingency fund of more than $5 million to make up for that particular deficit," Assistant Superintendent Randy Poe said.

The problem began in October, after Boone County Property Valuation Administrator Ron Burch committed suicide, and state officials started an emergency reassessment of property.

Their examination of all 2,400 commercial properties in Boone County resulted in an increase of $1.1 billion of property value over last year, a jump of more than 37 percent.

The reassessment means that residential property owners will likely pay less, since a state law known as House Bill 44 says overall property tax revenue can increase only 4 percent a year.

Adopting a tax rate that would realize more revenue than that could subject the rate to voter recall, so officials typically just roll back the tax rate. The current property tax rate in Boone County is 99 cents per $1,000 in assessed valuation. Boone county has not set its tax rate for next year. The state property tax rate already has been lowered from 12.8 percent last year to 12.4 percent this year, said Boone County Property Valuation Administrator Cindy Rich.

Her office has not been involved in the tax reassessments. Final numbers are in flux because business owners are flocking to appeal their reassessments before state assessment officials.

No matter what the tax rate is, the amount collected usually remains at a stable 4 percent annual increase.

But the reassessment spells trouble for county schools because it will mean a reduction in state funding, which is based on the value of property, not the amount of tax revenue it generates, Poe said.

State funding is based on a formula that lowers the state's contribution as county property values increase.

One way to make up the difference is to adopt a tax rate that would exceed the 4 percent maximum overall increase in revenue each year.

That's something the board doesn't want to do, Poe said, because it amounts to the state passing its burden on to local residents.

School officials already have been talking with state legislators about getting some relief from the situation, which would kick in later this school year for the Boone County district.

"We can't afford to take a $5 million hit," school board Vice Chairman Ed Massey said.

The overall Boone County Schools budget is about $57 million.

The timing of the reassessment is especially difficult because the school district had to submit its budget in June and had to inform teachers if they were not going to be retained by April, said Schools Superintendent Bryan Blavatt. If the assessments had risen gradually, as is more typical, the schools could have made gradual adjustments, he said.
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More on the negative impact of House Bill 44 on schools here.

Growth puts Boone County schools deep in hole

Boone County School Superintendent Bryan Blavatt knows Frankfort's political landscape is as treacherous as a field full of holes.

This isn't just any hole, though. Specifically, it's the one on Longbranch Road between Union and Burlington, where the district has finished excavating for a new elementary school but can do little more until more funding is secured for the project.

The district, the fastest-growing in the state, has averaged 700 new students annually for about the past decade and is bracing this August for nearly 800 more. That will bring its total enrollment, now the third largest in the state, to nearly 18,000.

Blavatt lobbied the legislature earlier this year for money from a state surplus to build new schools, but none was awarded.

Since the district is also building a fourth high school to open in 2008 and has exhausted its bonding capacity, Blavatt had hoped the special session that began - and abruptly ended - Thursday in Frankfort might somehow have provided a window to more funding.
That window, though, like the session itself, closed nearly as quickly as it began.

This from the Cincinnati Post.

America's Top Public High Schools, KY puts ten on the list.

The Courier-Journal reports:

Three Jefferson County high schools are once again among the best in the nation, according to the latest edition of Newsweek.

Eastern, Ballard and duPont Manual high schools are included in the magazine's newest list of America's Best High Schools. Out of 1,258 schools, Manual ranks 112th, Eastern 629th and Ballard 655th.

Newsweek evaluates the schools by dividing the number of students who took the Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate test by the number of graduating seniors.
In all, 10 schools from Kentucky made it onto Newsweek's list..

112 DuPont Manual - Louisville
629 Eastern - Louisville
655 Ballard -Louisville
691 Paul Lawrence Dunbar - Lexington
778 Highlands - Fort Thomas
898 Henry Clay - Lexington
934 Larry A Ryle (Boone County) - Union
1076 Woodford County -Versailles
1131 South Oldham - Crestwood
1175 Oldham County - Buckner

And this from the Fayette County Public Schools.
And this on Ryle HS from the Community Press.

MySpace.com will help police track activities

Former Boone County Schools bus driver Andrew Grabow had pictures of two girls he is charged with sexually exploiting on his MySpace.com profile.

Brian John Graham, a Canadian who was living in Burlington illegally, is charged with being the man shown molesting an 18-month-old child in pictures found on Yahoo's vast network of Web pages.

Authorities say these Northern Kentucky examples show the need to regulate online activities.

This from the Cincinnati Enquirer and this from Stateline.org.

Boone County to State: Thanks a million...but it's not enough

Superintendent:

"You guys tell us to be patient, but it's been 16 years."

Boone County Schools was given $1.2 million Tuesday by the state's School Facilities Construction Commission for operating costs of its $44 million high school, scheduled to open in August 2008 on Longbranch Road.

Boone County is the third largest school district in the state and growing by 800 students a year. In 1998-99 there were 12,826 students. There are now nearly 18,000 with more enrolling daily.

Roughly 4,500 students use portable classrooms each day in the district's 20 schools.
But money from the state to help keep up with that growth hasn't been there.

Blavatt said Boone is dead last of the 175 districts in state funding per pupil because of the way the funding formula is set up. He said Boone is three to eight schools behind what the state considers an appropriate number for the district's population.

This from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

More on recent growth in Boone County from the Cincinnati Post.