School board member resigns
Commuting, business cause change
By Bobbi Mlynar
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Emporia board of education members found an item added to their agenda Wednesday evening, when they were asked to accept the resignation of board member Homer Garza.
Board president Angie Schreiber read Garza’s letter of resignation to other board members and a small audience in the Mary Herbert Education Center.
Garza, who wrote the letter to Superintendent John Heim, said that he was working at an automobile dealership in Osage City, with an option to purchase.
“The commute time, along with the time involved in developing this business is causing me to think about my commitment to serve as a board of education member,” Garza wrote. “… Because I will be unable to devote the time to the district that I feel is necessary, I hereby tender my resignation… effective immediately.”
The board accepted the resignation before moving on to the remainder of the agenda, which included approving the district’s 2008-09 budget as published earlier and ratifying the master contract with certified personnel and with classified staff and administrators.
After an executive session on personnel, board members voted unanimously to ratify the 2008-09 master contract and benefits package for certified personnel, the administrative and classified personnel, and the superintendent.
The total compensation package for certified personnel will be a minimum of 1.87 percent, up to a maximum of 3 percent, depending upon funds available following the Sept. 20 FTE results. If funds are available, the percentage of increase will be adjusted upward. The 2008-09 contract currently shows salary ranges from a base of $33,595 to a maximum of $62,117 for those who have a doctorate and are on the 36th step of the salary scale.
More complete information about the contract, as well as the 2007-08 contract, is available online at www.usd253.org.
The superintendent and district administrators will receive a 1.5 percent pay increase that also may be adjusted upward if funds are available.
The classified salary schedule showed no increase in base pay because the experience increment for that group represented a 1.753 percent package increase.
“Adjustments were made to specific positions in an effort to be competitive with like positions in our community and to align like positions within the district,” according to a synopsis gathered by Heim, Scheib and Theresa Davidson.
Prior to voting on the budget, Heim reminded board members and the audience that, while the head count from the first day of school was larger than the worst-case scenario budgeted for, the true enrollment figures will not be known until after Sept. 20. The state of Kansas gives school districts per-pupil funds based on full-time enrollment equivalency (FTE), not head count.
The district will lose about half of its head-counted kindergarteners on the FTE calculations, because the state allows only half-time credit for kindergartners, though the local district has full-time kindergarten.
Heim said that head count enrollment at the alternative and virtual schools also may skew the FTE because many of those students are only part-time.
The official FTE will be figured after Sept. 20, when the district must submit information to the state.
“We’re going to have to ask everyone to be patient with us,” Heim said. “We probably won’t have the (FTE) numbers ‘til the first part of October.”
Assistant Superintendent of Finance reminded board members that the state increased several funding categories during the last session, including the base per-pupil rate, the at-risk rate, and funds allowed for special-education teachers.
“So even though our enrollments are varied and different, we have a chance to have fewer students and similar amount of money because of those increases,” Scheib said.
After the meeting, he reiterated that the mill levy, which remained flat for this year, may raise for the 2009-10 budget because of a one-time $125,000 funds transfer that will not be available in the future.
In other action, the board:
F appointed Steven Sublett, Larry Rute, and Warren White as hearing officers for the Flint Hills Special Education Cooperative.
F accepted the Riverside PTO’s donation of a #2,179 ice machine for the school, with installation to be done at no cost by Butcher-Peterson.
F unanimously approved sending out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for attorney services and a second motion on policy for attorney selection.
F The board passed a resolution giving Board Clerk Norma Stinnett authority to publish a notice in The Gazette regarding the vacancy on the board and inviting any interested person, who is an elector of the school district, to submit a letter of interest to the board. The board will consider the applications and make the appointment no earlier than 15 days after publication.
The notice will be published no sooner than Aug. 30. Applicants need to send letters of interest, reasons they want to serve, qualifications, and brief background summaries to the central office, 501 Merchant St. Applications must be received by noon on Sept. 3.