PA School District Data

What does this mean?
The increase in real estate taxes has exceeded the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) for the greater Philadelphia region as follows below, using CPI-U data from June of the year the budget was finalized for the next School District fiscal year. The CPI-U is an inflationary index published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The School District's fiscal year runs from July 1st to June 30th.

Cheltenham School District Real Estate Tax Percentage Increases and Consumer Price Index Percentage Increases
1.6 for 2007

The blue bars show designated fund balances and the purple bars show undesignated funds. The red line show the trend for designated fund balances and the black line shows the trend for undesignated fund balances. Designated fund balances are restricted for specific programs or operations, and undesignated funds have no restrictions as to where they can be spent. The bottom line is that the undesignated fund balances have generally been decreasing and the designated fund balances have generally been remaining somewhat level.

Fund Balance Chart 1996/1997 - 2004/2005

The blue bars show retirement of or payment of debt during the year and the purple bars show new debt incurred during the year, both use the axis on the left. The red line shows the amount of outstanding debt at the end of the year and uses the axis on the right. The black line shows the trend for outstanding debt. The bottom lines are that the School District of Cheltenham Township has limited debt levels in comparison to other Pennsylvania school districts (generally in the 20th or lower percentile for debt service level in Pennsylvania), this is due in large part to a lack of renovation and rebuilding projects over the years and the associated limited need to sell bonds to raise funds for capital building projects; however, the District is now starting an era of major renovations and rebuilding so more bonds will need to be sold. The debt has been increasing, and there has been limited repayment of principal; and some savings and debt and interest reduction by refinancing existing debt, a practice that will likely end as interest rates are projected to be moving in an upward manner over the forseeable future. (District debt data for year 2002/2003 is not available.)

Debt Chart 1996/1997 - 2004/2005