Hershey, PA—May 22, 2008— The Derry Township School District will host a community information meeting in the Administration Building, 30 East Granada Avenue, Hershey, on June 3 at 6 p.m. The focus of the meeting will be the district’s 2008-2009 budget.
The school board passed a preliminary budget May 12 and intends to vote on a final budget at its regularly scheduled June 9 meeting. As proposed, the budget beats inflation by holding expenditure growth at 3 percent – below both the Consumer Price Index and the 4.4% index the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania advised could be implemented without the need for a local referendum.
Thanks to responsible budgeting, the proposed millage rate for 2008-2009 is 16.52 mills, an increase of just 0.48
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The median assessment in Derry Township is around $144,000. A 3% increase for the “average” homeowner translates into $69 more than 2007-2008.
What does $69 buy the school district? Not as much as you might think:
· Part of a text book: a high school textbook for an Advanced Placement Environmental Science class is $104…
· Three reams of paper: a single sheet for each student in the elementary school…
· A fifth of a tank of fuel for a school bus: Derry Township School District buses cover more than half a million miles annually… |
mills. For property owners, that translates into $4 a month more on a home with a tax appraisal of $100,000. Derry Township School District’s millage rate is the 7th lowest of the 10 Dauphin County school districts and 1.68 mills below the county average of 18.2 mills.
Wise local budgeting, coupled with rebates from the state, means many Derry Township homeowners will actually see a property tax decrease in 2008-2009.
Like all 501 school districts in Pennsylvania, Derry Township School District receives revenue from four primary sources: local, state and federal and other revenues. What makes Derry Township different than most other districts, however, is the extremely low percentage of the budget that comes from state and federal contributions. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, on average Pennsylvania public school districts receive about 39% of their revenues in state subsidies. Comparatively, DTSD receives just 14% of its revenue from the state.
To learn more about Derry Township School District and the proposed 2008-2009 budget, visit www.hershey.k12.pa.us.
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