The Emporia board of education saw a dress rehearsal Monday night for a public budget workshop planned at 6 p.m. on Aug. 6, prior to the formal budget hearing at 7 p.m. before the school board.
The workshop meeting is one district administrators and staff hope will be well-attended by citizens in the school district. The 6 p.m. workshop will give the audience opportunities to talk with board members about the budget and ask questions, according to Nancy Horst, community relations director for the district.
According to the budget being proposed for publication, the district’s mill levy would stay at 49.317, the same as the 2007-08 levy, though the increase in property valuations would increase the actual tax money received.
Administrators continue to try to estimate building and educator needs without knowing whether the Tyson downsizing will substantially affect the number of students who attend schools here.
“The philosophy we’re using this year is a little different than other years,” said Assistant Superintendent of Finance Rob Scheib, explaining that the effect of the Tyson downsizing on the school district remains unknown. “We’re hoping for the best, but we’re planning for the worst. … We’re building this budget on hope, but we’ve got the backup plan in case the hopes don’t come through.”
Scheib showed a slide presentation to outline major points and considerations built into the budget for the 2008-09 school year.
“And this year, we worked and worked and worked, and we got too flat,” Scheib said of the mill levy. “When we started, we were one to two mills over, increasing” the district’s share of tax dollars.
The 2008-09 budget will be best-case-scenario, finance-wise. If the budgeted amount is more than needed, the excess can be used to finance a 3 percent raise for certified staff.
District officials will ask for an early appointment to have enrollment figures audited.
“The (Interest-Based Bargaining) team’s agreement is that we will revisit the salaries based upon our Sept. 20 enrollment,” said Superintendent John Heim.
Members of the teachers’ union, however, have not yet ratified the agreement, nor has it been presented to the board of education for a vote.
The budget can be revised downward once it is published, but it cannot be revised upward.
According to the slide presentation, the total estimated budget for the coming school term is $32,139,693, compared to $31,285,035 estimated for the 2007-08 budget. Audited figures of actual expenditures for last year were $30,981,479.
Because of a bill passed during the past session of the state legislature, the local district will be guaranteed to receive 98 percent of the adjusted 2007-08 enrollment when calculating the district’s general fund budget. The 98 percent floor would be $30,771,226, a difference of $1,368,467 from the actual budget.
Scheib talked about budgeting and funding changes that will affect all school districts, as a result of actions by the state legislature.
The legislature increased funding for special education students, and will pay $29,600 per teacher. The number of teachers is based on a prorated formula counting teachers and paraprofessionals.
“Last year, that amount was $26,500, so that’s a pretty big increase per teacher, and that results in the bigger number,” Scheib said.
The district will receive fewer funds for children in virtual schools, Scheib told the board, because some school districts were less than diligent in using the funds as intended and the legislature eliminated weighting for that group of students.
“For those kids, we used to get transportation (and) everything that we got for every other kid,” Scheib said. “And a lot of districts were just saying, ‘Here’s your laptop and go home. We’ll see you on Sept. 20.’ … It was kind of a money-gathering proposition. Not to badmouth other districts, but that was their model.”
It was not the model for the Emporia district, he said, but the consequence is that less money will be received for an estimated 83 students.
Scheib expects the number of at-risk students receiving free lunches to go down from 2,205 students to 2,150 students. The state then will multiply that number by .456; last year the multiplicand was .378.
“Even though we have fewer kids, we’re going to end up with more money because the weighting has changed,” he said.
State funding for high-density at-risk students now will be based on a three-year-average formula. According to that formula, the local district scores at 49.35 percent, which places Emporia in the .06 funding category.
“If we get to the 50 percent, we go up to 1.0 funding … so we’ll gain .04,” he said of the potential to move to a higher funding level.
State funds also could be reduced because of an improvement in students’ test results. Last budget year, 329 students were considered not proficient.
“This year, we’re at 230,” Scheib said. “So what happens? Kids are doing better on the test. The formula says, ‘OK, you’re being successful, so you get less money.”’
The district will benefit for the second — and last — year from the new facilities credit of about $100,000 given for the new fitness and weight rooms and other improvements made for physical education students and athletes at Emporia High School.
“Then next year, that goes away,” Superintendent John Heim said.
The administration also recommended a one-time transfer of $125,000 from the construction fund to the bond and interest fund to prevent a one mill levy increase.
“We have to all know and understand that’s one-time money,” Heim said. “We can’t go back to the trough next year. We will be starting out $125,000 in the hole. That’s a mill we’re gonna be behind in that year and we won’t have tax in process and that’s another 30 percent. So technically you could argue we’re going to be down 1.3 mills” when the budget process starts for the 2009-2010 school year.