Sean C. Morgan
School District 55 will have more than $21.1 million in the General Fund to start the 2014-15 school year, about $1.3 million more than it budgeted this year, 2013-14.
“The U.S. and Oregon economies have shown further improvement during the past year, and the Oregon Legislature has provided additional funding for K-12 education,” said Supt. Don Schrader in his budget message. “In addition, the Oregon Legislature passed bills that reduced the PERS (Public Employees Retirement System) pension system’s unfunded liability.”
The proposed 2014-15 budget, presented to the School District Budget Committee Monday evening includes all-day kindergarten.
It adds a language arts teacher at Sweet Home Junior High School, a math and language arts teacher at Sweet Home High School, a special education teacher splitting time between Foster Elementary School and SHHS, a full-time director of student achievement in place of a half-time curriculum director and part-time Title I coordinator and a full-time high school assistant principal in place of a half-time assistant principal.
Other changes include the addition of a .75 full-time equivalent high school career center position in the general fund due to the conclusion of the Gear-Up college readiness grant program, Schrader said. A small carryover from the grant will pay the remaining .25 FTE for the position.
Two new part-time teaching coach positions will be paid through a federal grant designed to help improve teacher quality.
An additional half-time technology specialist will reduce the need to contract out for technology assistance, Schrader said.
The proposed budgets includes the purchase of four school buses to replace buses that are more than 16 years old at a total cost of $442,000. Some $352,000 will be charged to the General Fund and $90,000 to the Bus Replacement Fund.
Seventy percent of the cost of the buses is reimbursed by the state over seven years.
The district could choose to finance them over a 5-year period, Schrader said.
The proposal includes a $100,000 transfer from the General Fund to the Textbook and Technology Fund, Schrader said. The district is considering a language arts textbook adoption.
“In addition, technology funds are necessary to continue improving the district’s wireless network to allow multiple devices to utilize high bandwidth applications simultaneously,” Schrader said. The district also plans to use some money for a pilot technology innovation grant program to allow teachers to acquire classroom-based instructional technology.
An additional $80,000 is proposed to pay alternative education tuition payments, the majority of them in the Access College Today program, which allows seniors to postpone official graduation while attending Linn-Benton Community College, with the district paying their tuition.
In the proposal, schools will divide $45,000 to address key building needs identified by principals, Schrader said. The largest allocation is $21,000 for graphing calculators at the high school.
Other projects include replacement computers and projectors at Foster, upgraded copier equipment at Hawthorne, informational text resources aligned with Common Core at Oak Heights, sound-reduction windows at Holley and upgraded projectors, monitors and digital signage at the Junior High.
The proposal includes $10,500 for mental health services.
From last year, the proposal includes a $100,000 reduction in federal Title I revenue, Schrader said. That shifts some labor costs to the General Fund.
The budget is reduced by another $20,000 in funds set aside as to match possible grants for a school resource police officer. The City of Sweet Home applied for a grant, but it was not approved.
Long term, the district faces three possible reductions in funding.
The legislature is providing an additional $100 million in K-12 funding, which is about $400,000 for Sweet Home, Schrader said. Those funds will likely be divided over both years of the next biennium, 2015-17, which would represent a decrease from the 2014-15 budget to the 2015-16 budget.
Beginning in 2015-16, Oregon districts will all begin all-day kindergarten. The K-12 budget allocation will be spread over more students when kindergarten students go full time instead of half. Unless additional funding becomes available, state revenue per student will decrease.
Legal challenges have been filed against bills that reduced PERS liabilities, Schrader said. At this time, district officials do not know if these bills will survive the legal challenge.
“Given these budget considerations, considerable thought has been given to how can we best meet student needs while maintaining adequate reserves for the future,” Schrader said. “As presented, the General Fund ending fund balance will decrease to 3.8 percent of the proposed budget. A possible option to reduce costs is to implement ‘Expanded Kindergarten’ next year where kindergarteners attend school for a full day 50 percent of the time and for a half day 50 percent of the time instead.”
The proposal anticipates a $1.45 million beginning fund balance for 2014-15, with an ending fund balance of about $807,000. The budget projects revenues of about $19.7 million, including $15 million from the state school fund and $3.8 million in property taxes.
Combined with other funds, including federal programs, maintenance reserves, debt service payments, early retirement, technology and textbooks and the student activity fund, the district is budgeting $32.5 million for 2014-15.
The second budget committee meeting is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday in the Board Room at the Central Office. It is typically approved at the second meeting. A third meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m on May 27 if necessary.
After approval, the budget moves onto the School Board for adoption in June.