Does 'Building For The Future' Mean Big Tax Hike?

On Tuesday, the Radnor Township School Board took a step toward approving an $83 million budget with a maximum allowable 3.28 tax rate increase, reports Main Line Media News.

According to the article, the “Building for the Future” option includes "one-time expenses and long-term operational millage for the long-discussed full-day kindergarten."

Full Day Kindergarten was on the agenda of the March 13 Curriculum Committee. Watch that discussion here.

, Radnor School Board member Susan Michaelson writes that the research on full day kindergarten "does not show any lasting benefit beyond third grade for the regular ed population."

"In Radnor, because there are a number of full day private kindergartens, as well as a longstanding "extended day" program already available for sliding scale payment, the arguments in favor have never been persuasive. Additionally, high end school districts which have implemented full day kindergarten are scaling way back, having discovered that the costs far outweigh benefits," Michaelson writes.

Howard Gartland, who unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the school board, writes:

The RTSD spent $72.6 million in the most recent Budget Year. Why are we budgeting to spend $83 million in the next budget year….a $10 million + increase in expenditures from 2011 to 2013?

2) What are the actual expenditure projections for 2012? This is easy to calculate with +/- 2% variance ; why won’t the RTSD administration divulge the number ?

3) To what purpose is the $10+ million in new annuaal expenditure planned?

4) PA will increase funding to Radnor by an additional $1 million in 2012-2013 (from $6 mil to $7 mil), has this been accounted for in our budget (don’t believe those who tell you that the State is cutting funding – it is not )

The history of school tax increases, from the school district:

2010