Are Salem Schools a Good Deal?

Disclaimer: My opinions, not necessarily any other person's opinions.

We just paid our first tax bill for the year and that usually prompts us to think about what we get for our tax dollars. Since the school system accounts for a little over 50 percent of the tax dollars collected, let’s look at what we get for our money from the Salem School District.

The tax rate for Salem is estimated to be $20.14 per $1,000 of property valuation. The school portion of that rate for 2011-2012, combined state and local education tax, is $11.78 (estimated) per $1,000 of property evaluation. The actual rate will be set by the Department of Revenue Administration later this year and may change, but past estimates have been fairly accurate. So with the general understanding that taxes can never be too low, let’s look at what we get for our money.

When we’re trying to decide if we’re getting a good deal, we really have to ask ourselves, “A good deal  compared to what?”  In this case we’ll compare Salem to other school districts our size in southeast New Hampshire.

Salem has the 5^th highest number of students among thirteen school districts similar to ours in southeast NH according to recent NH Department of Education (DOE) data.  Most of these districts have enrollments between 4,000 and 5,000 students, and Salem has almost 4,600 students. Enrollment size is a pretty straight forward number; count the students on October 1, and that’s the DOE official enrollment for that year. We know Salem has a higher student population than most school districts in our area. Given that, you would expect Salem’s overall costs to be higher, but to compare school districts we really should look at “per pupil cost”.

Fortunately, the DOE calculates the per pupil cost for all school districts, unfortunately if you don’t understand how it’s calculated, the number can be misleading. It’s not calculated by dividing the district’s budget by its enrollment. Here’s how the DOE calculates per pupil cost:

“Cost per Pupil is based on current expenditures as reported on each school district's Annual Financial Report (DOE-25). Cost per pupil represents current expenditures less tuition and transportation costs. Any food service revenue is deducted from current expenditures before dividing by ADM in attendance. Capital and debt service are not current expenditures and are not included.”

Ok, now we know it’s not a simple division problem. Fortunately, the only thing we really need to know is that the DOE “per pupil cost” is calculated the same way for every district, so you can accurately compare districts’ costs and tell which districts spend more per pupil than others.

Salem is consistently in the lowest three or four K-12 districts in total in per pupil cost of the thirteen; so we spend less per pupil to educate our students than most of the districts in southeastern NH. What do we get for the expenditure? Our students score as well on standardized tests (NECAPs, SATs etc.) as the other districts. Our students are accepted at community colleges, state universities, Big Ten schools and Ivy League schools, just like the other school districts in our area. Our students become successful professionals, trade practitioners and military members, just like the other schools in our area. We just spend less per pupil to accomplish similar results.

What does it cost a Salem resident to send a student to Salem schools? First, it depends on how many children you have. Second, it depends on the tax value of your property. The property tax/valuation/tax bill process is a whole topic by itself that we won’t discuss here now.

As previously stated, the school portion of your tax bill, state and local combined, is about $11.78 per $1,000 of property valuation. The typical home in Salem is valued at $300,000 for tax purposes. If your home is valued at $300,000 you will pay just over $3,500 per year to send one student to school in Salem. For that same $3,500 you can also send additional numbers of your children to Salem schools, all for the same $3,500. If you have two children in school, that’s $1,750 per child per year.

If you have no children in the school system, you can assume that your investment will pay future dividends. You’ve helped educate the people who will be your doctors, engineers, electricians, nurses, accountants, police officers, firefighters, lawyers, chefs, dentists, chiropractors, carpenters and plumbers some five to ten years into the future. You do want good service providers, don’t you?

You’ve also prevented costly social problems stemming from low educational attainment. Problems  that would cost you more money in the long run. More importantly, whether you have children in the school system or not, it has cost you less than it has cost your peers in similar neighboring school districts.

Don’t misunderstand the message; the fact that we spend less isn’t intended to say “We should spend more…” it’s to say “We get a pretty good deal for our money from the Salem School District.”

Email comments or questions to pmorgan@sau57.org