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HOWLAND -- Changes have been made to how public education is funded in recent years, and the Howland Board of Education learned how the district will be affected through its five-year plan.
Treasurer Julie Sloan said Monday that the district's revenue is set to be down "quite a bit," mainly because of the owner-occupancy tax credit, which will be a $500,000 loss for the district.
"We're down in tuition, state aid about $300,000, and our expenses are up for the new buses that we weren't planning on when we did the forecast last year," Sloan said. "Over five years, our income, our revenue, is increasing about 0.29%."
Sloan said things are tough for schools right now and a good time to be advocating for them, adding that there are plans to push out information for parents and residents on the district's social media page and websites Friday.
Sloan said school funding has gone "downhill" in the state, noting that it ranks 45th in the country for state school funding and has the eighth-highest property taxes.
Sloan said she expects their five-year forecast to trigger a letter from the state requesting action on how the district will balance its budget, adding that there will be a lot of schools in the same position.
Superintendent Kevin Spicher said the district has ways they can try and work forward to make sure school officials are fiscally sound and responsible to their taxpayers, without taking away the programs they don't want to take away for their kids.
"If the Fair Funding Act would ever come to fruition, to have been fairly funded, schools like ours would not be sitting in these types of situations," Spicher said. "Because our schools aren't really impacted much at all by even the rollbacks."
Spicher was referring to House Bill 1, a bipartisan overhaul of the state's public school financing system signed into law in July 2021, designed to fix mechanisms ruled unconstitutional for their overreliance on property taxes.
Sloan said school officials speak with district administrators frequently and examine every purchase order and purchase to ensure items are needed.