Budget remains a guessing game
PBB committee makes recommendations
By Bobbi Mlynar
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
By Bobbi Mlynar
mlynar@emporiagazette.com
School Superintendent John Heim has been uneasy about budgeting for the upcoming school year since Tyson Foods in January announced plans to eliminate jobs of about 1,700 workers at the plant here. It appears that little has happened to allay that concern.
During a discussion of the Performance-Based Budgeting committee’s recommendations Wednesday evening at Mary Herbert Learning Centers, Heim talked about different scenarios that the school board may encounter, and cautioned that utilizing reserve funds to solve a short-term problem could have serious long-term consequences.
“We need to be aware when we start to do that that we’re borrowing from our savings account,” he said. “… When your savings are gone, they’re gone, and you have that $50,000 expense.”
Heim said that, based on enrollment estimates from building principals, it appears that the district could safely not replace 10 teaching positions created by staff resignations and retirements.
“And our best guess last week was that we thought we could probably do without 19 or 20 teachers, if enrollment comes in like we think it’s going to,” Heim said.
Between 30 and 35 positions now are open. The school board and the community need to know that “we’re going to fill 25 of those, not that we’re going out to cut 10 more,” he said.
Because enrollment and budget issues remain in limbo, the board will meet for a study session at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Mary Herbert. The board will talk further about different scenarios and potential solutions for them. The session is open to the public.
“The real wild card in all this is the 2 percent floor that is still being considered in the legislature,” Heim said.
The bill containing the measure was passed out of the Kansas House and the Senate, but it stalled in conference committee because time for the legislative session ran out.
“We have no way of knowing if we’ll have that 2 percent floor until April 30, and April 30 is too late to start hiring math or science teachers,” he said.
If the 2 percent floor is not approved, Heim predicted the district would have serious budget problems, and even if it is enacted, it is a short-term solution.
“The following year, when the averaging starts to kick in and that 2 percent floor is gone, we could be as many as $2 million down, based on current projections that we’re making,” he said.
Amy Scheller and Becky Smith, both members of the PBB committee, described to board members how the committee came to its conclusions.
“The general consensus among the community members, as well as staff, were that, No. 1, we need to retain and maintain the current staffing that we have … across the district, Scheller said.
The committee remained committed to moving forward on two district goals of attaining 100 percent graduation rate and improved test scores for students district-wide.
Scheller said the committee wanted budgeting to be creative and flexible to make it easier for the district to accommodate changes in funds available.
“For example, to not transfer as many funds into a specific locked fund so that we can possibly use those for salaries, so we don’t have to lose teaching staff or certified staff, or other personnel,” she said.
The committee also felt strongly as a group that raising salaries for all certified staff was necessary and vitally important, she said. The raises should apply in all areas and in all positions, certified or non-certified.
Money for purchasing supplies also could be a target for cuts for one year.
“A lot of the perspective was based on what can we do without for one year to take care of the people we have,” Scheller said.
Smith said that QUEST also is important because it affects many of the school children.
Susan Hernandez, assistant superintendent for finance, had some good news for board members when she told them about the need to republish the district’s budget.
Hernandez said she had heard about a possible increase in the special education per-teacher allocation. Kansas Association of School Boards director Dale Dennis told Hernandez that a $2,200 per-teacher increase is being considered.
With more than $246,000 estimated increase, Hernandez said it will be necessary to republish the budget.
“If we do not do that, we have to turn that money away, so by increasing our general fund money, it will allow us to receive that – hopefully not more than that,” Hernandez said. “That money will be going into our special education fund, and special education funds can be carried over from year to year. … It’s a good problem to have.”
The estimated windfall, however, will not lower property taxes, board member Mary Helmer noted.
The board unanimously approved Mitchell-Markowitz’s low bid of $272,700 for the Family and Consumer Science project at Emporia High School. Emporia Construction had bid $277,715 and Markowitz Builders’ bid was $303,750. Mitchell-Markowitz estimated the work could be done in 74 calendar days.
The project will be charged primarily to the capital outlay fund, although money for construction resulting from Americans with Disabilities Act compliance will come from bond money.
Hernandez said that the bond money was earmarked specifically for ADA issues and could not be transferred legally for other uses.
Construction is scheduled to start on May 19, with completion set for July 25.
The board also unanimously approved a bid from Modern Air Conditioning to replace the HVAC system at Village School, and to install ductwork into a former porch that had been made into a classroom to accommodate the growing number of students at the school.
The boiler and chiller systems had been installed when the school was built in 1963.
Modern Air bid $462,500 on the project; Markowitz Builders’ bid was $490,000.
The project will be charged to the capital outlay fund.
The board also heard or took action on the following:
F Mike Crouch, the board’s representative to Head Start, reported that ECKAN had purchased the Farm Bureau insurance building on West 12th Avenue and is beginning to remodel it for occupancy.
“They plan to move Head Start into that building … by July 3,” Crouch said. “Head Start will no longer be connected to the school district. They will be under ECKAN.”
F The board approved a bank services bid from CoreFirst Bank and Trust that will carry through for the next 5 years.
District business manager Karen Flood said that she had sent out Requests for Proposals to all Emporia banks and had received proposals from four of them.
“The service charges and interest rates are both superior to the other banks,” she said of the CoreFirst bid.
That bank offered a 4 percent T-bill rate on an average collected balance of $1,854,000, with estimated annual earnings of $83,449, estimated bank service charges of $4,580, and estimated net earnings of $78,869.
F Myoan McJunkin, reading specialist at Riverside Elementary, explained the Professional Development Council plan being submitted for adoption by the district.
“The reason we revised it was because we needed to align it with the District Improvement Plan,” McJunkin said.
The PDC plan, approved unanimously, will be forwarded to the state for approval.
F Theresa Davidson, associate superintendent of personnel, presented a list of 11 certified staff members that are recommended not to have their contracts renewed for the 2008-09 school year.
“The district has had a practice of putting all staff members who were hired after July 1 on this list,” Davidson said, adding that there also may be other reasons the teachers listed have been recommended for non-renewal of contracts.
The board approved the recommendations.
F The board's agenda included an executive session to discuss personnel matters. A KASB attorney was to have come to Emporia to meet with the board in the executive session. However, after waiting more than a half hour for the attorney to arrive, the board voted to reconvene and adjourn the meeting. The executive session will need to be rescheduled soon in order to meet a state deadline for action.