Below are questions we have received via our Questions page, and their answers.

Q. How can a local district enact a millage and still comply with the state laws regarding school funding? 

A. Since the passage of Proposal A in 1994, individual school districts are prohibited from seeking additional funding from local voters for general operating costs.  A regional enhancement millage (through the ISD) is the only option that local school districts have to raise additional funds for general operations.

Q. What percent of the operating budget is taken by health care cost?

Health care costs are approximately 10% of the operating budget.

Q. If revenues have not kept paced with expenditures since Proposal A was passed, why hasn't an enhancement millage been proposed earlier?  

A. The AAPS has dealt with the revenue shortfall by reducing expenditures and/or using fund equity.  To date the annual shortfall has been approximately $6 million.  The projected shortfall for 2010-11 could be in excess of $15 million.  This problem is structural in nature and cannot be permanently solved by only addressing the expenditure side of the equation.  The millage proposal is an opportunity to also address the revenue side.

Q. Pursuant to state law, the revenue raised by the proposed millage will be collected by the intermediate school district and distributed to local public school districts based on pupil membership count.  Using 2008 information, please provide the following for each constituent local public school district:
Percent total revenue generated
Percent total revenue distributed

A.