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Eschenbach, Schlammersdorf and Vorbach finance their school association with 3108 euros per pupil
The Markus Gottwalt School in Eschenbach is financed by the city together with the communities of Schlammersdorf and Vorbach as a school association.”>
The Markus Gottwalt School in Eschenbach is financed by the city together with the communities of Schlammersdorf and Vorbach as a school association.
Image: rn
The town of Eschenbach and the communities of Schlammersdorf, Speinshart and Vorbach are involved in the school association as material resources for the school expenses of the Markus Gottwalt primary and secondary school. Or to put it simply: these communities finance the school – except for a large part of the personnel costs. These are borne by the Free State. Including the guest students from the area between Auerbach, Hirschau and Weiden, 311 students attend the local educational institution.
In the meeting room of the Eschenbach town hall, treasurer Ulrich Hesl presented the contents of his 101-page set of figures, the total volume of which, at 1.015 million euros, is 6.7 percent higher than the previous year. Since income without levies is only 303,100 euros, 711,900 euros must be distributed among the member municipalities to balance the budget. That is 3,108 euros per student.
Hesl named 206 students from Eschenbach, 10 from Schlammersdorf and 13 from Vorbach as the basis for the school association levy. The deadline for determining the number of association students was October 1, 2023. He put the levy amounts at 640,398 euros for Eschenbach, 31,087 euros for Schlammerdorf and 40,413 euros for Vorbach. They are only collected to finance the administrative budget, which shows 208,300 euros for personnel costs and 692,700 euros for material administrative and operating expenses.
To compensate for a deficit in the capital budget, EUR 55,000 will be taken from the reserves, which will thus be reduced to EUR 22,000. The minimum amount of the general reserve is EUR 8,167.
Solar system
After 22,000 euros for IT requirements, the highest expenditure item in the capital budget follows by a long way: 82,000 euros was spent on a PV system, which is mainly used for private use. This enabled the estimate for operating costs, which also includes electricity costs, to be reduced from 120,000 euros to 90,000 euros. As Hesl explained, the system is the property of the school association.
The possibility of having the system built by the city of Eschenbach as the building owner and then obtaining the electricity from the city of Eschenbach was also examined beforehand. “After consulting with the Bavarian Municipal Audit Association, we as the school association decided to build the system ourselves for tax reasons,” added school association chairman Markus Gradl.
Expensive school transport
Among the largest individual expenditure items in the administrative budget, Hesl counted 222,000 euros for building rents, 92,000 euros for student transportation, where required by law, 90,000 euros for the management of the land and buildings, i.e. electricity and heating costs, 44,600 euros for reimbursements to the Free State for services for the operation of the open all-day school and 39,900 euros for guest school contributions.
Visiting students
These contributions are incurred because 15 students from Eschenbach and Vorbach attend the Pressath middle school, 7 students from Eschenbach and Vorbach attend the Kirchenthumbach middle school and 5 students from Eschenbach attend the Grafenwöhr middle school. The information in the preliminary report of the budget: “On July 8, 2010, a cooperation agreement was concluded between the elementary schools in Eschenbach, Pressath, Grafenwöhr, Kirchenthumbach and Am Rauhen Kulm. The aim of this agreement was to create the conditions for the further development of the secondary schools into middle schools. With an announcement in the official gazette of the government of Upper Palatinate on July 30, 2010, the Eschenbach secondary school was given the designation of the Eschenbach id OPf. middle school.”
On the other hand, Hesl expects guest school contributions of 109,000 euros for the guest students from Kirchenthumbach, Neustadt am Kulm, Speinshart, Trabitz, Pressath, Schwarzenbach and Grafenwöhr assigned to the Eschenbach middle school. The representatives of the municipalities involved approved the budget statute, financial plan and the investment program from 2023 to 2027.
Johannes Schmid commented on the results of the local audit of the 2022 annual accounts. He spoke of good cash management, with no complaints or irregularities. The assembly approved the annual accounts with adjusted target income of 1,053,385 million euros, granted discharge and decided to destroy cash receipts from 2022, which are already recorded on digital data carriers. The budget was originally estimated at one million euros.
Markus Gradl announced decisions from the non-public part of the meeting on July 26, 2023. They concerned agreements on the distribution of meals at the all-day school, the purchase of teacher equipment, a small tractor and curtains, and the contracting of window cleaning. Association chairman Gradl took the upcoming modernization and expansion measures for the school building as an opportunity to inform about the “procedure for the award of public contracts” (VgV) initiated by the city. The aim is to make the school fit for the future, to meet the requirements of an all-day school, and to question its financial viability.
Principal Wolfgang Bodensteiner thanked everyone for the “always good and direct connection to the town hall”. This is in line with the school motto “Together we are strong – we all pull together.” All of the school’s classrooms are now equipped with new seating.
background:
School association levy
- Legal basis: The levy to be collected to cover financial needs is calculated based on the number of association students in each municipality on October 1 of the previous year. The association assembly can decide otherwise with a two-thirds majority of its members. (Bavarian School Financing Act)
- Eschenbach: 206 Schüler
- Schlammersdorf: 10 Schüler
- Vorbach: 13 students