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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kvkkc1 who wrote (47299)	10/16/2000 6:41:15 PM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

To get the figures, one has to go to the NY Legislature, which has a web site, and which publishes the formula for allocating state funds to each school district. I don't have all the figures handy, (as I work for a living), but I do know the formula for the township in which I live (Town of Jerusalem, Yates County). The average adjusted gross income for Jerusalem residents is among the lowest per capita of any part of New York State. But that is for residents, and does not include the much higher income and property values associated with non-residents, many of whom own lake property. The formula takes into account both income and assessed valuation on a per-student basis. Given the high assessed valuation and the relatively small number of students (since most non-residents are retired or living most of the year elsewhere), the formula treats a relatively poor school district as if it were similar in wealth to some of the more well off suburban districts in nearby Rochester, NY (such as Fairport, Pittsford, and Brighton). To give you an example of how this works out in detailed figures, if you own a home here with a value of $250,000, your local school taxes will be close to $3,400. Because the state formula treats the district as if it were in a wealthy suburban area, the total budget of the school district is not exceptional. Actual per capita funding is around $7,000, which is on the low side for New York State. In terms of performance, the schools are slightly below average. In terms of getting into college, only about 15 percent of the students manage that, and it is mostly into nearby community colleges or a State University. Few go to more well known colleges with higher standards, though that is partly due to income. The bottom line is that most students in this district can look forward to below average incomes for the rest of their working life, and not much to inspire either them or their children to break away from mediocrity. There will always be a few exceptions, such as the local boy who started at a parochial school, graduated from the local high school, joined the Marines, got a GI financed college education, went to law school, and eventually got elected as county judge. And he's a pretty good judge, too (a Republican by necessity). That's the exception and not the rule. If you put a voucher system in this area, the only result would be to take money away from the school district, and also take away any incentive people have to support higher and higher property taxes, especially if their children end up going to another school.