34.6%

That is the proportion of revenues for the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District that comes from state funding. A commenter on my previous post wondered where the money for the schools comes from and I thought that was a good question. My previous post was on the Amherst Elementary District but I could not find information on the sources of revenue for that district (but will email Rob Detweiler) but do have that information for the Regional District.

This pie chart comes from my work on the Facilitation of Community Choices Committee and illustrates the sources of revenue for the Regional District for FY09 (the year we are currently in). As you can see, the majority of funding for this district (56.9%) comes from assessments from the four towns. The town of Amherst contributes about 44% of the total Regional budget (FY09).

After assessments from the four towns, state aid is the next big slice--34.6%. This leaves only 8.5% of revenue from other sources.

While I don't have the figures for the Elementary District, I do know that there are no revenue streams at that level for choice (since we don't take choice students), we don't have any E & D funds, and I am almost certain that the only transportation reimbursements from the state go to regional districts. Otherwise, I would imagine that the picture for Amherst looks similar to that for the Regional District.

For FY10, state aid is expected to remain flat, suggesting that in order to maintain the same level of services, a larger proportion of funding would have to come from the towns. Meanwhile, Amherst, at least, has asked our schools (as well as the other budget managers in town) to keep their budget projections lower in FY10--2.0% growth for the Amherst District and 3.5% growth for the Regional District. Which does not translate to level services. Hence, the cuts which are currently receiving heated debate at the School Committee meetings (which you can watch on-demand through ACTV).