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Pat Garrett, Superintendent of Mt. Vernon Township High School Mt. Vernon Township High School is a comprehensive high school with a $10,000,000 budget that serves approximately 1,500 students. The district includes 252 square miles of Jefferson County and employs 100 certificated personnel plus a support staff of 65. The new General State Aid Formula that went into effect for the 1998-1999 school year removed the 25% weighting of high school average daily attendance. This change in the formula resulted in a substantial loss in state aid. The loss has been made up by hold-harmless funds for the last three years. Even so, costs for salaries, benefits, supplies, and materials have continued to increase. The lack of any increase in state aid revenue for three years has forced Mt. Vernon high School to spend its education fund balance. On June 30, 1998 the education fund balance was $880,000. On June 30, 2001, the education fund will have a projected debt of $250,000. As cost cutting measures, the district, this year, dropped its summer school program and eliminated one more teaching position. Ten teaching positions have been eliminated since 1995. Class sizes are higher than they have been in years. Further cuts in student services and programs will be needed if additional funding is not forthcoming. I offer the following recommendations to the Funding Advisory Board: 1. Revise the State Aid Formula to include some type of weighting factor that recognizes the additional cost associated with providing a high school education. 2. Return to the use of a three-year average to calculate average daily attendance. 3. Increase the proportion of state funding for the common schools from the present level to 50%.
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