To The Editor:
On behalf of the Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) Board of Directors, we’re asking you to vote yes on the two items that will be on the HUUSD ballot this year. The first will be to approve a budget for fiscal year 2020, in the amount of $38,600,862, which represents an equalized tax rate of $1.62. This is an increase of 2 cents over last year’s tax rate. The proposed budget is a level service budget, which preserves the quality of programming the board believes the community values in our schools. It’s important to remember that without the third year of our Act 46 merger incentive, the tax rate would be 6 cents higher. Our board has worked to keep the tax rate low while providing educators with the resources necessary to help our students thrive. Our merger has also allowed us to provide more quality and greater equity in programming and a consistent equalized tax rate across our six towns.
The second question will be on contributing $1 million toward the HUUSD maintenance reserve fund. This money comes from an FY 2018 budget surplus and will allow us to replace funds being used for this summer’s capital improvement projects and to save for future work and updates which will be needed to responsibly manage our seven campuses and school buildings. We encourage you to join us for our annual meeting on Monday, March 4, at 6 p.m. in the Harwood Union High School library to hear a more detailed presentation of our budget.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Christine Sullivan, chair
Caitlin Hollister, vice chair
Harwood Unified Union School District Board of Directors
