The following article written by Messenger Correspondent Lisa Boucher appeared in yesterday's edition of The St Albans Messenger
BFA-Fairfax again tightens belt
School district meets state 'challenge'
By LISA M. BOUCHER
Messenger Correspondent
FAIRFAX-After coming in with a budget under 1 percent last year, the school board went to the table this year to comply with "Challenges for Change" and cut the budget by 1.58 percent.
At $11,234,266 the 2012 budget is $180,894 less than last year. The board was asked to cut $400,000 and it did. The school budget goes to a vote on Town Meeting Day. For now, however the proposed school tax rate in Fairfax is $1.1536 a decrease from the current year's rate of $1.1762. The statewide education rate is set at $0.87. The Common Level of Appraisal (CLA), a statewide system certifying that properties of equal value pay equal taxes, is unstable and changes with every property sale in the
community. The CLA, student enrollment, and the state rate have more of an impact on local taxes than the proposed school budget does.
Additions to the budget include: increasing kindergarten to a full day, a one-to-one computing initiative in grades seven and eight; WiFi service throughout the school; partner with Virtual High School Global Consortium to expand course offerings in grades 9-12; new music courses; funds for ACT testing for juniors; renewal of the drama one-act play program; and extending the school day by 20 minutes.
Reductions include: elimination of part-time elementary health educator and computer lab monitor positions (as a continuation of the push to integrate technology training into the classroom as opposed to separate instruction); a restructure of high school business and technology programs to maximize resources; a decrease in unified arts in the middle school; schoolwide reduction in books and supplies; and moving the business office services to the supervisory union.
Under the proposed budget, BFA, Fairfax is once again below the state average of $12,204 per equalized pupil cost at 10,495 (even lower than last year's $10,665). It is one of the lowest in the area and the lowest of the three in the FWSU.
The BFA Fairfax School Board voted to begin a study with the Fletcher and Fairfax Town School
Districts to determine whether merger is feasible. Each town selected representatives to serve on
a committee, which began the process in January:
The study is expected to take about nine months. If merger is deemed the best course of action, the committee would then decide whether to recommend a vote on the merger by both towns.
If a vote does occur in October, it would need to take place, by Australian ballot, in both towns on the
same day: Each town must vote in favor of a merger for it to occur. The new district would begin in July 2012.
