Board wants to salvage QUEST program
Reductions and enhancements presented
By Bobbi Mlynar (Contact)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Members of the Emporia board of education have asked for more information about a proposal that could eliminate or downsize the QUEST program in the school district.
The request came during the board meeting Wednesday night at the Mary Herbert Education Center, 1700 W. Seventh Ave.
The proposal was one of many recommendations sent to the board by the district’s Performance Based Budgeting Committee.
Several board members said the after-school enrichment program for students was an asset, and that they wanted more details about the numbers of children served, the costs, other options that might be available, among other information.
Superintendent John Heim said after-school care still could be available if QUEST were cut.
“It just wouldn’t be as academically oriented as it is now,” Heim said. “Frankly, I was surprised that it ranked as high as it did in the reductions.”
He said that Emporia Middle School’s program might be salvaged through Juvenile Justice Authority grant, and other grants have been applied for to finance QUEST at Riverside and William Allen White.
Moving money saved from those programs to other schools might help.
“It would provide more funding. I don’t know how much,” Heim said. “We can have those answers for you at the next meeting.”
The board had received recommendations from the PBB team, which divided reduction and enhancement recommendations into tiers of priorities. Board members discussed several of the recommendations and will consider them again at the May 27 meeting.
About half of the money budgeted for QUEST goes to coordinators to run the programs.
Board member Brent Windsor suggested turning the programs over to principals. He also asked if would be possible to move up some reductions listed in Tiers 2 or 3, to gain savings from areas other than the QUEST program.
“You can certainly do that,” Heim said. “That’s why I want to give you some time to think about it.”
The board voted 6-0 to approve hiring additional instructional coaches at a cost of $200,000 for grades kindergarten through six. The hiring was the number one enhancement recommendation by the PBB team.
Money to fund the additional teachers will come from the second phase of the stimulus package, from which administrators expect to receive a total of $800,000 in two years. The money can be used only for new programs.
“That will take about half of our stimulus money for the next two years,” Heim said.
When that second portion of stimulus money runs out, the board will need to decide whether the program with those instructional coaches can be continued.
Board member Mike Crouch asked if the teachers about to be hired were aware that their jobs may be only for two years, or if they could be hired as other employees leave the district.
“These are going to be really good, high-quality people,” Heim said. “They would be easily absorbed back into classrooms.”
Money from the first phase of the stimulus package already has been sent to the state for other specific uses.
“There were two buckets of stimulus money,” Heim said. “One was used to prop up state budgets and the other one came through Title 1. ...
“The money used to prop state budgets is already in there. I guess that’s sort of good news.”
The PBB’s reductions and enhancements recommendations, as well as the associated costs or savings, were:
Tier 1 reductions: supplemental budget lines overall, $6,369; general operations supplies, $30,000; building administration supply line, $8,800; O&M equipment purchases, $20,000; and summer maintenance, $30,000. The total savings from Tier 1 reductions would be $95,169.
Tier 2 reductions: general fund budget lines overall, $17,500; central office administration position, $67,000; QUEST program, $150,000; supplemental budget lines overall, a second $6,369 reduction; general operations supplies, a second $30,000 reduction.
Tier 3 reductions: General fund budget lines overall, a second $17,500 reduction; building periodicals/technical supplies and hardware lines, $40,000; all after-school bus service, $60,000; eliminate 5 taching positions, $290,700; busing under 2.5 miles, $50,000. Total Tier III reductions, $458,200.
Tier 4 were: another 5 teaching positions, $290,700.
Enhancements recommended by the PBB committee were:
Tier I: increasing kindergarten through grade 6 instructional coaches, $200,000; alternative elementary program, $135,000. Total cost of enhancements, $335,000.
Tier 2: increase general education enrichment supplies, $389,988; increase time for enrichment, $89,988; increased custodial staff, $20,000; increased specialized maintenance staff, $25,000; increase health insurance benefits for classified staff, $65,000. Total Tier II cost of enhancements, $289,976.
Assistant superintendent of finance Rob Scheib talked briefly about the budget for the 2009-2010 school year.
Because of special legislation enacted by the state legislature after Tyson downsized its Emporia plant, the district does not expect to endure the budget distress other districts now face.
The Emporia district did not lose as many students as anticipated and, as a result, received more than $2 million more state aid per-pupil than it had expected.
The board used $400,000 of the $2 million to fund an additional wage increase for certified staff and other employees. The increase had been negotiated, pending the outcome of the legislative action.
Using worst- to best-case figures, Scheib estimated the district could have about $55,354 to $363,257 remaining from the funds, as the board searches its budget to try to compensate for the loss of a total of $149 per-pupil in state aid. The decrease in aid was handed out in two budgeting sessions; the first was a recision of $33 per-pupil on the 2008-2009 budget and the second was a $116 per-pupil cut for the 2009-2010 budget.
Emporia Recreation Director Tom McEvoy presented a slide show on the history of the recreation commission, its services, and the added responsibilities it has undertaken since its creation in 1953.
The city and the rec commission are negotiating an agreement to list specific responsibilities of each entity.
Financing will be an issue, McEvoy said, because the rec commission does not have the funds to pay for all of the needed maintenance and programming.
The rec commission cannot levy taxes itself and instead runs its budget through the school district, which has taxing authority. The recreation mill levy could be run through the city’s budget and passed on; however, the city’s mill levy is not as large as the school district’s because the school district reaches beyond the city limits. Therefore, the recreation commission would lose funds if it ran its traditional 4 mill levy through the city.
School board members said they needed specific details about how the money from the proposed mill-levy increase would be spent. They also suggested the rec commission could provide its annual audit to the school board each year.
McEvoy said the commission will meet Monday night to discuss the details and would provide the information to the board.
Teachers from Emporia Middle School talked to the board about results of state math assessments at the middle level, and how the results reflected on Adequate Yearly Progress.
Graphs showed comparisons of math scores from Spring 2007, Spring 2008 and Spring 2009.
While scores overall went up, several subsets of students did not meet target scores.
A team of marketing students presented a Cases and Campaigns Report for USD 253, which featured teachers, counselors and administrators talking about the positive aspects of the Emporia school district.
The board approved hiring former assistant superintent for finance Susan Hernandez as an independent contractor to write grants for the 2008-2009 school year at a rate of $40 per hour. Hernandez will complete and submit a 21st Century Community Learning Center grant application. The agreement will end June 30, with an option to renew yearly.
In other action, the board approved:
-- a health and wellness curriculum and textbooks for the seventh grade at Emporia Middle School.
-- the EMS Spanish curriculum, and the texts to go with it, which will be compatible with the state’s curriculum standards for world languages.
-- accepting a donation from CINTAS for an automatic External Defibrillator valued at $1,495. CINTAS will perform a free site assessment to identify optimum locations for AED, Emergency Response Plan information, installation and testing. Kathy Palafox, Emporia high School Nurse, completed the application for the grant program. The Emporia district was one of four to receive the defibrillator award of about 600 applicants.
-- using district transportation for the Kansas Kids @ GEAR UP for a five-week summer program in the Emporia area. The program will offer career awareness and exploration activities to 25 sixth, seventh, and eighth-graders from the Emporia School District.
-- using district transportation for kindergarten students to the Topeka zoo on Friday.
-- using district transportation for two Educational Talent Search field trips. One will be to Hutchinson Community College and the Underground Salt Museum there; the other will be the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
-- upgrading from Microsoft Office 2003 to Microsoft Office 2007 on pre-kindergarten through grade six computers progressively through the summer. The board agreed to purchase 600 licenses at a cost of $41.69 each, for an estimated total expenditure of $25,014.
-- Famtex Inc.’s purchase of 37 videocassette recorders to use for parts refurbishing.
The board approved rescinding a request for sabbatical leave for the coming school year by an unidentified teacher.
It also approved summer school staffing for the 2009 session.
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