Summary of net costs of the Lexington Public Schools METCO program to Lexington taxpayers
	Unaudited figures, prepared by Mark Andersen
Revenues (based on state reimbursement)
			# students	Lexington cost per student in category	Amount	Source
	FY2004 METCO Grant Allocations Fund Code 317				$1,099,604	DOE Website (Breakdown: $2500 per pupil educational expense, remainder transportation)
	Total Reimbursements				$1,099,604
Expenses (including present year expenditures as well as accounting expenses)
	# METCO Students		288
		77% Regular Education	221.76	($8,000)	($1,774,080)	FY 03 Lexington avg. regular ed cost figure
		23% Special Education	66.24	($17,305)	($1,146,283)	FY 03 Lexington avg. special ed cost figure
	Baseline Educational Expenses				($2,920,363)	% Special ed based on stats at www.metcoinc.org
	METCO specific costs (in addition to Lexington regular education costs)
	METCO Director				($83,334)	Lexington FY 03 Budget
	Assistant Director				($47,986)	Lexington FY 03 Budget
	3 social workers / guidance counsleor				($212,839)	Lexington FY 03 Budget
	Secretary				($29,070)	Lexington FY 03 Budget
	Consultants				($34,950)	Lexington FY 03 Budget
	Utilities				($1,000)	Lexington FY 03 Budget
	Travel & Conferences				($12,000)	Lexington FY 03 Budget
	Teaching Supplies				($10,000)	Lexington FY 03 Budget
	Transportation Costs				($432,100)	Lexington FY 03 Budget
	Other Expenses				($20,000)	Lexington FY 03 Budget
	Total Direct METCO Overhead				($883,279)
	Indirect Taxpayer Costs (not reflected in operating budgets)					Other indirect costs probably exist
	Capital Deprec. Student Space			($405)	($116,762)	Estimate
	Capital Deprec. Admin Space				($13,684)	Estimate.  Refinement expected.
	Total Indirect Expenses				($130,446)
	Total Annual Expenses (Baseline, METCO specific, indirect costs)				($3,934,088)
	Net Cost to Lexington (NPV)	(Total Annual Expenses - Total Reimbursements)			($2,834,484)
Notes Section
	Footnote #1
	The net cost to Lexington will be significantly higher in FY04 due to inflation in cost of education per student without compensating METCO reimbursement increase.
	Footnote #2
	Lexington's METCO budget has the following additional items.  These seem to fall under ordinary expenditures, therefore they are assumed part of the "average Lexington student" cost.
	If any of these services are specific to METCO students and do not replace comparable Lexington services, than a portion of these expenditures should be added above.
	It seemed more conservative to ignore these expenditures, recognizing that the total NPV figure for Lexington might be understated.
	.4 FTE HS Counselor				($16,284)	Lexington FY 03 Budget
	Teachers in reading/math specialists				($211,524)	Lexington FY 03 Budget
	5.73 FTE Classroom aides				($156,243)	Lexington FY 03 Budget
	Subtotal, Costs reflected in analysis above, and disregarded here				($384,051)	It is possible that some of these costs belong in the area of specific costs.
	Footnote #3
	I attempted to estimate depreciation associated with capital expenditures.  To do so, I used figures from the elementary schools.
	Actually, the costs of elementary school buildings might be on the low end, as they have fewer specialized facilities (labs, auditoriums, etc.) than later grade levels
	Lexington taxpayers bear the cost of all school buildings, so although these items are excluded from operating expenditures, they should be treated
	as part of the cost of any school program.
	Fiske & Harrington school rebuilds		($32,150,000)
	Cost to Lexington after 50% reimbursement		($16,075,000)
	Estimated life		50	years
	Cost per year (straight line depreciation)		($321,500)
	# students housed
	Fiske		416
	Harrington		377
			793
	Depreciated Lexington capital expense per student per year		($405.42)
	This per pupil depreciation figure assumes a new school building is built rather than a trailer being rented.  Trailer costs may vary.
	Footnote #4
	Administrative space used by METCO staff has not been formally estimated.  One METCO office exists at the high school, and presumably represents
	about less than one-half of METCO space system wide.  Since trailer space is used by the systems at the margin for additional space, this space is esimated
	at the rate for trailer space.
	Trailer rental		($13,000)	per year		LPS source. This understates actual cost as there are additional costs with setting up a trailer.
	Square feet		950
	Annual cost/square feet for trailers		($13.68)
	Estimated square feet at high school		500
	Multiplier for total square feet		2
	Total square feet		1,000
	Total estimated cost		($13,684)
Reference materials
	DOE website on METCO		http://www.doe.mass.edu/metco/faq.asp?section=b
	METCO organization		www.metco.org
	Lincoln's failure to let voters consider METCO		http://lincoln-ma.com/independent/docpages/metco1.htm
	''No matter what, the value far outweighs the cost,'' said Chris Horner, Lincoln's Metco director
	Lincoln's METCO cost		http://lincoln-ma.com/independent/docpages/metcoforum.htm
	According to a report prepared by a 2002 Lincoln task force, the town's estimated cost of educating 89 Metco students during the last fiscal year was $395,576.
	Lincoln political process around METCO		http://www.townonline.com/lincoln/news/opinion/lin_colljfeinberg01142004.htm
	Lincoln school committee seeking assistance in lobbying for METCO
			http://www.townonline.com/cohasset/news/local_regional/coh_newcmsammetco12242003.htm
	METCO's alleged violation of federal discrimination laws		http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/5_May/maymet.htm
	Concord METCO program costs		http://www.colonial.net/progweb/metcoweb/index.html