Superintendent's November News Article
There are three revenue sources for funding education - state, federal, and local. This article focuses on the local aspect of funding.

Local funding makes up approximately 32% of our total funding. The majority of local funding comes through a property tax levy where individual property owners within the school district pay for a portion of the cost to run local schools. A portion of the school levy is approved by voters and a portion is prescribed by state statute.

Voter Approved Levies
One type of voter approved levy is a bonding levy. This levy is used when a district has a capital need such as a new building, renovating an existing building, or upgrading equipment or technology. The voters approve the sale of bonds to finance the project and the revenue generated pays the principal and interest payments for these bonds. A bonding levy cannot be used to pay for daily operating costs of the district. A bonding levy is approved by voters for a specific period of time and every new bond sale requires voter approval. In 2011, $4.8M in revenue will be generated for bond payments.

The other type of voter approved levy is an operating levy. An operating levy may only be used to pay for the daily expenses of operating the school district such as paying for teachers, utilities, classroom supplies, etc. Because state and federal funding haven't kept pace with increased costs, 302 of 337 Minnesota school districts have found (This could change after November election results) it necessary to ask the voters for additional revenue to fund their on-going operating costs. Revenue generated by an operating levy is a dollar amount per student so the total amount of revenue generated annually varies based on student count. An operating levy is also approved by voters for a specified period of time and needs to be re-approved by voters when it expires. The last year of New Prague Area School's current operating levy is calendar year 2012. In the calendar year 2011, $3.0 million of revenue will be generated through the operating levy.

Categorical Levies
A portion of the property tax levy pays for specific categories of expenses and is set by formulas approved by the legislature. Levies like these include operating capital, equity, transition, and community service. Similar levies, also based in statute, but based on local need include career/technology, deferred maintenance, crime, facility leases, integration, re-employment and health and safety. Several of these levies have maximum caps set by the legislature. The revenue generated from these levies must be spent on expenditures specified in statute. Currently approximately $2.0 million is generated annually by categorical levies.
The 2011 Levy

The preliminary levy certified by the school board in September for calendar year 2011 decreased from the 2010 levy mainly due to prior year adjustments and variations in principal and interest payments for bonds. The operating levy amount per student did not change since this was approved by voters, but the total amount due from individual tax payers changed based on the number of students and value of individual properties in the district. The school board will certify the final levy at the board meeting scheduled for December 13, 2010.
The property tax levy is a key piece of funding for New Prague Area Schools.

Other Local Funding – User Fees
Another piece of local funding come from user fees such as student participation fees, admission to events, etc.
As in all matters of public funding we encourage you to ask questions, attend board meetings, or do your own research on the topic. If you have any questions regarding local levies or any other finance topic, please call the district office at 952-758-1700.