Dear Editor,
I served as the school business manager for East Greene, Jefferson-Scranton and Greene County School Districts for 31 years, retiring in June 2023. I fully support the renewal of the VPPEL levy. It is vital that the VPPEL levy, on the ballot in November, is approved. This is not a new tax. Let me repeat that: This is NOT a new tax. It is funded through both property taxes and income surtaxes, so the entire burden is not on property owners. But it is a tax that the voters must approve every 10 years.
PPEL stands for Physical Plant and Equipment Levy. These taxes are used to purchase equipment, for building repairs and for non-instructional software. Non-instructional software was added as an allowable expenditure during my tenure. As technology has become such an important part of data collection, tracking, and reporting, that was a very welcome change.
When they say “non-instructional”, they mean software used for support services, not direct instruction. Some of the software purchased with PPEL dollars include the Student Information System that keeps track of demographic information, grades, attendance, enrollment, and health records; Financial software – with all the state and federal reporting requirements, and the details required, this is a necessity as well; Transportation Software – routing and tracking buses; The school website and virus protection firewalls are also funded in this way.
School finance, the various funds and their limited uses, is complicated and beyond this letter. But dollars that are spent in the PPEL Fund, are dollars that will not have to be spent from the General Fund. Districts are limited to the amount of money they can spend each fiscal year in the General Fund. This is a complicated formula driven by the Certified Enrollment on one day, normally October 1, each year. This is the district’s Unspent Balance Authority. If a district’s UBA falls below zero, the district will need to submit a workout plan to the School Budget Review Committee. Nobody wants to go before the SBRC and present that. The only substantial way to “get out” of a negative unspent balance is to cut staffing expenses. That is the other piece of the puzzle – dollars spent in the PPEL Fund will free up dollars in the General Fund and can help avoid the unspent balance issue.
The General Fund dollars are needed for the daily operations of the district. Salaries and benefits, purchased services including tuition, supplies, smaller equipment, miscellaneous dues and fees all are paid from the General Fund. To remain a quality district, we need to stay competitive with our wages. This goes beyond teachers. The support staff also needs a decent wage. This is paraeducators, secretaries, nurses, custodians, bus drivers and cooks. The school cannot run without these people. The students and staff deserve decent buildings and the supplies for a good education.
As property owners ourselves, my husband and I are very aware of the higher assessments and the fear of higher property taxes. I trust that the Greene County Community Schools board will lower their levies next spring and do the best they can with the dollars generated. The VPPEL is a vital part of that.
Please join me in voting YES on November 7 for the renewal of the VPPEL levy and continue to support your local school district and the students and staff it serves.
Sincerely,
Brenda Muir, rural Jefferson
