Mount Desert Island Regional School System (RSS) – Financial Processes

Contents:

A. Budget Adoption Procedures
1. RSS budget meeting phase
2. Member Unit local budget meeting phase
3. Budget validation referendum phase [Items in blue font; req'd only until 2012]
4. General provisions
B. Cost Sharing of RSS Central Office Budget
C. Allocation of State Subsidy

A. Budget Adoption Procedures

1. RSS budget meeting phase

RSS administration drafts RSS central office budget

(12/03/2008) RSS Committee reviews draft budget (iterate revisions as required)

(01/12/2009) RSS Committee approves RSS budget, warrants, budget articles, and notices:

Action 1:
• RSS Committee approves (and signs) warrant for RSS budget meeting for RSS budget and calls an RSS budget meeting for (January 21, 2009) for the purpose of voting on the central office budget for the RSS for the (2009-10) fiscal year.
Budget meeting articles
• Article 1A: To elect a moderator to preside at the meeting
[Articles 1 through 3 authorize expenditures for the RSS central office in cost center categories]
• Article 1: To see what sum the RSS will be authorized to expend for Special Education
  RSS School Committee recommends $_____________
• Article 2: To see what sum the RSS will be authorized to expend for Student and Staff Suupport
  RSS School Committee recommends $_____________
• Article 3: To see what sum the RSS will be authorized to expend for System Administration
  RSS School Committee recommends $_____________
[Note: Although Articles 3 through 11 are proposed with no funding, they are included in the event a corrective change is needed. A vote should be taken on each article.]
• Article 4: To see what sum the RSS will be authorized to expend for Regular Instruction
  RSS School Committee recommends $ 0
• Article 5: To see what sum the RSS will be authorized to expend for Career and Technical Education
  RSS School Committee recommends $ 0
• Article 6: To see what sum the RSS will be authorized to expend for Other Instruction
  RSS School Committee recommends $ 0
• Article 7: To see what sum the RSS will be authorized to expend for School Administration
  RSS School Committee recommends $ 0
• Article 8: To see what sum the RSS will be authorized to expend for Transportation and Buses
  RSS School Committee recommends $ 0
• Article 9: To see what sum the RSS will be authorized to expend for Facilities Maintenance
  RSS School Committee recommends $ 0
• Article 10: To see what sum the RSS will be authorized to expend for Debt Service and Other Commitments
  RSS School Committee recommends $ 0
• Article 11: To see what sum the RSS will be authorized to expend for All Other Expenditures
  RSS School Committee recommends $ 0
[Article 12 summarizes the proposed RSS central office budget.]
• Article 12: To see what sum the RSS will authorize the RSS School Committee to expend for the fiscal year beginning July 1, _____ and ending June 30, _____ for the support of the RSS central office budget.
  RSS School Committee recommends $_____________
[Article 13 authorizes expenditure of grants and other receipts for central office purposes.]
• Article 13: Shall the RSS School Committee be authorized to expend such other sums as may be received from federal or state grants or programs or other sources during the fiscal year for central office purposes provided that such grants, programs or other sources do not require the expenditure of other funds not previously appropriated?

[In 2012, the RSS Committee may also recommend an article to discontinue the requirement for a budget validation referendum.]

Action 2 [required for budgets for 2009-10, 2010-11, & 2011-12]:
• RSS Committee approves (and signs) Warrant and Notice of Election for RSS budget referendum and calls RSS budget referendum for (June 9, 2009) for the purpose of approving the central office budget approved at the RSS budget meeting for the (2009-10) fiscal year.
Action 3 (in anticipation of successful budget meeting):
• RSS Committee approves form of Notice of Amounts Adopted at Budget Meeting and authorizes and directs the Superintendent of Schools of the RSS:
• to complete said Notice by adding the amounts approved by the voters for each expenditure category and the total school budget summary expenditure amount, in accordance with the budget meeting
• to cause copies of said notice, as completed, to be delivered (the day after the date of the RSS budget meeting) to the municipal clerks of each municipality of the RSS for posting at the polling places for the (June 9, 2009) RSS budget referendum

[RSS prints budget validation referendum ballots and readies for distribution to all member units.]

(01/21/2009) RSS Budget Meeting:

The RSS conducts the RSS budget meeting in accordance with the summary cost center budget format, to the extent applicable to the RSS central office budget, and the budget meeting procedures applicable to a regional school unit, except that the duties of the regional school unit board shall be performed by the RSS school committee.

[Note: The budget meeting includes no articles about raising funds and no separate articles about exceeding EPS. The articles authorize expenditures only. No authorization of appropriation of funds occurs at this meeting]

[Note: There is no requirement for a quorum.]

[Note: There is no requirement for any written vote on any of the articles at this meeting because none are “EPS” driven questions. However, a written vote may be required on any question following a request made by at least 10% of the attending voters.]

Actions

RSS Secretary opens meeting, takes nominations for meeting moderator. Meeting proceeds as follows:
1. Election of moderator 20-A M.R.S.A. s1482-B(1).
2. Moderator, once elected, appoints and swears in ballot clerks. s1482-B(2).
3. Motion to adopt rules of meeting (suggest: Maine Moderator’s Manual).
4. Motion to allow non-residents (i.e., non-voters) to speak. (allowed only with the consent of 2/3 of the voters present)
5. Superintendent thoroughly explains the budget. s1482-B(3)
6. Consideration of warrant articles based upon cost center summary budget format. s1485(1,2) and requested articles s1482-A(3), with written votes taken upon vote of at least 10% of those present and voting s1482-B(6).

[In 2012, the meeting may also vote to discontinue the requirement for a budget validation referendum.]

Following the RSS budget meeting, the RSS school committee shall notify the Member School Units of their respective shares of the RSS central office budget as approved at the RSS budget meeting calculated in accordance with the cost sharing method (below). [Note this action is earlier delegated by the RSS Committee to the superintendent by the RSS Committee's budget approval action item #3.]

Member units are contractually obligated to pay these assessments.

[No later than the day following the RSS budget meeting, the RSS delivers the referendum warrants and absentee ballots (and presumably all the ballots) to the municipal clerks.]

2. Member Unit local budget meeting phase

The school committee of each Member School Unit in the RSS shall then develop its own school budget, including its share of the RSS central office budget, and submit it to the voters of that Member School Unit for approval at a meeting of its legislative body in accordance with applicable law.

[various dates]

02/11/2009 (MDI High School annual meeting)

–

05/05/2009 (Mount Desert Town Meeting)

06/02/2009 (Bar Harbor Town Meeting)

3. Budget validation phase [required at least for budgets for 2009-10, 2010-11, & 2011-12]:

Following the budget meetings of the RSS and each Member School Unit, the RSS and each Member School Unit shall conduct a budget validation referendum on its budget in accordance with applicable law, except that the 14 day time limit between a budget meeting and a budget validation referendum shall not apply. The RSS and each Member School Unit shall conduct its budget validation referendum on a uniform date as determined by the RSS school committee. The RSS budget validation referendum shall be conducted in accordance with the budget validation referendum procedures applicable to a regional school unit, except that the duties of the regional school unit board shall be performed by the RSS school committee.

If the budget of the RSS or a Member School Unit is not approved at the budget validation referendum, the RSS or that Member School Unit shall repeat the budget adoption process until its budget is approved at both a budget meeting and budget validation referendum.

4. General provisions

Each Member School Unit’s final share of the RSS central office budget shall be determined based on the final RSS budget as approved at both a budget meeting and budget validation referendum.

The budget validation referendum procedure may be discontinued by the voters of the RSS and/or a Member School Unit after three years in accordance with the law applicable to a regional school unit.

The RSS shall not have taxing power and the allocation of RSS costs to each Member School Unit under the cost sharing method [below] shall not constitute the assessment of a tax.

The Member School Units shall be solely responsible for raising taxes to pay their respective shares of the RSS central office budget.

Each Member School Unit’s share of the RSS central office budget shall be paid to the RSS as a contractual obligation under the terms of [the] Interlocal Agreement.

B. Cost sharing of the RSS Central Office Budget

Cost Sharing of RSS Central Office Budget. The Member School Units shall share the costs of the RSS central office budget on the following basis:

a. The gross budget of each Member School Unit, including its share of the RSS central office budget for the preceding fiscal year, shall be calculated as a percentage of the total combined gross budget of all of the Member School Units for the preceding fiscal year;

b. The average number of pupils of each Member School Unit on April 1 and October 1 of the preceding calendar year shall be calculated as a percentage of the total combined average number of pupils of all of the Member School Units for the preceding calendar year;

c. The average size of the staff of each Member School Unit measured in full-time equivalents on April 1 and October 1 of the preceding calendar year shall be calculated as a percentage of the total combined average number of staff of all the Member School Units measured in full-time equivalents for the preceding calendar year;

d. The percentages for each Member School Unit calculated under paragraphs a, b and c shall be averaged in order to determine each Member School Unit’s “average of the three percentages”;

e. Each Member School Unit shall then be assigned one half of one percent (.5%) of the RSS central office budget as its “initial contribution.” The remaining portion of the RSS central office budget, after deducting one-half of one percent (.5%) for each Member School Unit, shall be allocated to the Member School Units in proportion to each Member School Unit’s average of the three percentages. Each Member School Unit’s contribution to the RSS central office budget shall be calculated as the sum of 1) its initial contribution of one half of one percent (.5%) of the total RSS central office budget, plus 2) the amount calculated by applying each Member School Unit’s “average of the three percentages” to the balance of the RSS central office budget after deducting one half of one percent (.5%) of the RSS central office budget for each Member School Unit.

f. Each Member School Unit shall pay its share of the RSS Central Office budget to the RSS in twelve monthly installments on or before the first day of each month of the July 1-June 30 fiscal year.

C. Allocation of State Subsidy

Allocation of State Subsidy. The RSS school committee shall allocate state subsidy received by the RSS as follows:

a. State Subsidy Allocation Policy. The RSS school committee, with the advice of the superintendent of schools and such other legal and accounting advice as the RSS school committee deems necessary, shall annually allocate the State education subsidies to be received by the RSS among the RSS Member School Units so that the allocation of State subsidy to each Member School Unit reflects as accurately as is reasonably practical the amount of State subsidy that that Member School Unit would receive if it were a stand-alone unit and not a member of an RSS.

b. Initial Method of State Subsidy Allocation. Beginning in Fiscal Year 2009-10, the RSS school committee shall allocate state education subsidy received by the RSS among its Member School Units in accordance with the following initial method of State subsidy allocation:

1. State subsidy received by the RSS which represents the minimum special education subsidy adjustment for any of its Member School Units calculated pursuant to 20-A M.R.S.A. § 15689, or successor provision, shall be reallocated among those Member School Units based on the percentage that the special education costs of each of those Member School Units was of the total special education costs of all of those Member School Units in the year two years prior to the year of allocation;

2. To the extent that State subsidy is received by the RSS for debt service costs incurred by a Member School Unit that is not eligible for a minimum special education adjustment, that State subsidy shall be allocated to the Member School Unit responsible for paying those debt service costs;

3. To the extent that State subsidy received by the RSS represents other subsidizable costs under 20-A M.R.S.A. § 15681-A, or successor provision, such as costs of bus purchases, career and technical education, and/or gifted and talented education incurred by a Member School Unit that is not eligible for a minimum special education adjustment, that State subsidy shall be allocated to the Member School Unit which incurred those costs; and

4. Any remaining state subsidy received by the RSS shall be allocated to the Member School Units which are not eligible for a minimum special education adjustment, in proportion to the amounts by which their respective EPS total operating allocations, excluding any amounts already allocated under subparagraphs 2 and 3 above, exceed their respective required local contributions.

c. Retention of Allocation Flexibility. The Member School Units recognize that the Maine Legislature has a history of making changes to Maine’s school funding formula, that other circumstances may change, and that it is not possible to include in this Interlocal Agreement a precise formula for allocating State subsidy among Member School Units that will achieve the goals of the State subsidy allocation policy described in subparagraph a above in future years. To retain flexibility in the method of allocating State subsidy among Member School Units, the RSS school committee, by a two-thirds vote of its full membership, may modify the initial method of State subsidy allocation described in subparagraph b above in order to better achieve the State subsidy allocation policy set forth in subparagraph a above.