A proposal to raise driver-education program fees met some resistance Wednesday evening at the Emporia board of education meeting.
The board last year had agreed that the program should become self-supporting. When proposed figures were presented for this summer and the summer of 2008, several board members said the fees would rise too rapidly.
Kristin Kuhlmann told the board that both full-pay and free or reduced-pay students would pay an additional $100 over last year's fees. The cost for full-pay students would be $330 and free- or reduced-pay cost would be $130. In 2008, the course would be fully paid by students, with full-pay students paying $400 and free- or reduced-pay students paying $200.
"To me, personally — and this is my opinion — I think this is too much too fast," said board president Grant Riles. Member Jerry Fair quickly agreed with Riles.
Susan Hernandez, associate superintendent of finances, told the board that providing driver's education to students is not a primary mission of the school district and is becoming very costly. The increases were a reflection of recommendations from last year's Performance-Based Budget committee.
"We developed this as a two-step process," Hernandez said. "... We'll have to see how much driver's ed really costs us this year, compared to how much it brings in. If we're going to have to fully fund it through fees, it may be more than $400 and $200."
In response to a question from Riles, Kuhlmann said that she did not bring enrollment figures from last year. She said that the district uses about six teachers, with six to 10 students per instructor, for the two sessions of the course.
Hernandez also said that she did not have figures with her, but estimated that the course cost about $68,000.
Mike Crouch suggested that all students pay the same amount rather than breaking out fees according to income.
"It's not a required class, it's not something they have to take, it's just something that we provide," Crouch said.
Fair said she preferred to make the class less expensive so that students could become better drivers.
"I just don't like the idea of eliminating something that would make the entire town safer," Fair said, adding that she has seen a need for better driving skills in the community.
She wants the district to provide that service.
"If we don't ... then we're doing a disservice to the people who are paying the taxes and supporting us," Fair said. "This is one way I think we can give back to the community."
Interim board member Carol Schaefer asked if it would be possible to stretch the increases over three years instead of two years.
Riles made a motion to approve a revised fee scale for the coming semester, with a $50 increase in each fee category rather than the proposed $100 increases. The costs would be $280 for full pay and $80 for free and reduced.
"I was looking at one year and see where we go," Riles said.
The motion passed 4-3.
A bond re-funding that should provide savings to the district was initiated on a 6-0 vote. Member Homer Garza was not present for the vote, and later joined the meeting in-progress.
Dustin Avey, vice president of Piper Jaffray financial group, and Gina Riekhof of Gilmore and Bell of Kansas City presented information about the bonds and the legalities of re-funding existing bonds for the district.
The re-funding is expected to save between $17,000 and $22,000 per year through 2021. The board is re-financing $9,195,000; associated costs of the transaction will bump the total to $9,510,000. The rate, currently about 4.75 percent, is expected to be 4.1 percent or less.
"We're estimating right now a gross savings of about $266,000," Avey said. Originally, it was believed the total savings would be more than $400,000, but rates have crept up in recent weeks, he said.
The board approval means the financial group will move forward with the re-funding, and authorizes Riles to sign a bond purchase agreement with Piper Jaffray. The agreement locks in the maximum rate the district would have to pay for refinancing. Reikhof said that if, for some reason, Piper Jaffray was not able to meet the parameters set out in the agreement, the board would not be obligated to continue with re-runding.
Superintendent John Heim asked if he understood correctly that the board would not be responsible for expenses to date if the re-funding was not successful. Reikhof replied that he was correct.
The actual terms of the re-funding will be brought back to the board in two weeks.
Avey said that the Emporia district had received an A3 rating, which he termed "a good rating for a Kansas school district."
The board received the Performance-Based Budget report that had been assembled after multiple meetings of community members, staff, and administrators from each school in the district over approximately six months.
The report made recommendations on reductions to save money for the district, and enhancements committee members believed would be good investments toward meeting educational goals and the District Improvement Plan.
Hernandez told the board that action was needed to allow the district to begin the hiring process for new positions.
Some board members balked at cutting building budgets by 8 percent. The money finances education-related expenses for individual buildings, and had 5 percent left over last year.
Some members believed the additional 3 percent cut was excessive.
"Wouldn't it make more sense to cut it by 5?" Fair asked.
Schaefer suggested the temptation next year might be to spend everything instead of taking a cut because all of the money had not been spent.
"That tends to happen," Schaefer said.
"We don't want to develop a 'use it or lose it' mentality," Fair said.
Crouch moved to approve the PBB, and Kevin Nelson seconded the motion.
During discussion, member Mary Helmer said she agreed the building cuts were too much.
"Are we held solid to that 8 percent cut to the buildings? Then we can't go back on that?" Helmer asked.
Heim said that approving the cut, then returning to that item at a later meeting, would not be a good practice.
"If that's your intent," Heim said, "I think you should make a different motion."
Helmer made a motion to remove the building budget cut from PBB and to consider it later. Fair seconded the motion, which was approved.
The PBB then was approved by a unanimous vote.
The board hired Vernite (Nita) L. McLean as principal at Lowther South Intermediate School. McLean will replace Amy McAnarney, who has been appointed assistant principal at Emporia High School.
McLean was principal at Towanda for 16 years and, since 2002, has been principal at Circle Middle School. Under her leadership, the school has received eight "Standard of Excellence" Awards for performance on state assessment tests, according to information from the Emporia school district.
McLean received a bachelor of science degree in elementary education and a master's degree in administration from Emporia State University.
The board also hired Curt Lanpher as director of maintenance. Lanpher graduated from Kansas State University in 1983 with a bachelor of science degree in construction management/science.
He worked as a general contractor for five years and was a construction manager in Kansas City and Greeley, Colo., where he represented school districts on more than 30 multimillion-dollar construction projects.
He also has 13 years of experience in project management.
In other action, the board:
— Approved nonrenewal of certified staff hired after July 1, 2006. The board routinely does not renew those types of contracts, though some of the certified staff may be offered positions later.
— Agreed to allow the district to sell approximately 500 laptop computers at $250 each. The laptops will be offered to people who currently are using the computers. Laptops left over will be sold for $250 in a lottery for staff members near the end of summer. Leftovers then will be offered to the community. Any remaining laptops will be sold on eBay.
— Approved an $18,441 bid from Creative Floors to resurface gymnasium floors at both Lowther North and South Intermediate schools.
— Approved paying $91,779.24 to Fastenal of Emporia, the lone bidder to replace internal lock systems on 400 to 450 locks. The locks were installed as part of an Americans With Disabilities Act mandate, and many of them now are malfunctioning.
— Met in executive session for 15 minutes to discuss negotiations.