Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The School District 55 Budget Committee approved a budget for 2007-08 that will include a new school resource police officer, reduce the number of classroom teachers by two and add two physical education specialists, all at the elementary school level.
Supt. Larry Horton presented the proposed budget to the School District’s Budget Committee on April 23. The Budget Committee approved the budget on Monday night.
The proposed budget did not initially include a school resource officer. Police Chief Bob Burford has offered, with approval of the city’s Budget Committee, to pay half the cost of a resource officer, approximately $40,000 per year, if the district will pay the other half.
That is about the cost of a new teacher, Horton told the Budget Committee. The district will continue to seek alternative funding sources for a school resource officer.
Board members had been telling Horton that a resource officer was important, he said. “I felt kind of a need to go out and start looking through ways to find potential dollars.”
Horton said he has learned from the Linn-Benton-Lincoln Education Service District that he could use what is called “tier two” money to pay for the officer. The district will have about $30,000 in carryover from the 2006-07 school year in ESD funds.
Tier two money is about $200,000 per year in ESD funds that the district can use to pay for services not normally provided by the ESD, Horton said. It is most often tapped to pay for special education services.
Of that carryover, Horton told the Budget Committee he would not recommend using more than $25,000 to pay for a resource officer.
The Budget Committee voted to draw the remaining $15,000 from its budgeted ending fund balance, $880,000, about 5 percent of the General Fund. The ending fund balance is money that the district deliberately carries over to the next fiscal year. It also serves as a contingency for the district. The actual General Fund ending fund balance for 2006-07 is estimated at $1.2 million.
The position was left out of the budget initially. Business Manager Kevin Strong told the committee that “our concern is enrollment continues to decline.”
“I think we need to do it, somehow, some way,” School Board Chairman Mike Reynolds said.
“I remember when we looked at a contingency fund (ending fund balance) that was considerably lower than this at one time,” board member Diane Gerson told the committee. She moved to pay half of the cost of the police officer, approximately $40,000, using the ESD money and spending down the ending fund balance.
The committee unanimously agreed to the motion.
Horton’s budget message, delivered on April 23, had positives and negatives, he said.
On the positive side, the state economy is improving and state funding for schools is expected to increase by at least 15 percent from the last biennium, Horton said. On the negative side, district enrollment, including the Charter School, is down by 25 students from average enrollment last year, equating to a loss of $150,000 in revenue. Assuming the Charter School enrolls 120 students next year as authorized, the district will transfer $500,000 to the school.
“Meanwhile, we anticipate expenditures for labor, utilities and supplies to increase by an overall average of 4 percent next year due to labor agreements and inflation,” Horton said. “This equates to over $700,000 in additional costs for our General Fund to absorb.”
This means the district will cut two teachers, one from Foster where enrollment is down by about 20 students and one from Oak Heights where enrollment is down by about 30 students, Horton said. A new program will eliminate elementary level early release days and implement a physical education program.
To accomplish this, the district plans to hire two specialists to run a district-wide physical education program to give students quality P.E. and to allow a full day on Wednesdays, with elementary teachers receiving their prep time when the specialists take the students for physical education.
This change will need to be negotiated with the teachers’ union if the Budget Committee and School Board approve the concept and the budget, he said.
The proposed budget also includes salary and insurance increases for all employees, Horton said. The teachers and administrators are scheduled to receive a 3 percent salary increase, while the classified have just started negotiations. The district will increase its contribution to insurance premiums from $750 to $800 per month.
Some issues remain unresolved, Horton said. First, state revenues for the proposed budget are based on the best information available at the time of development. The most recent state funding forecast was for $6.1 billion statewide.
The district is estimating that 102 full-time equivalent students will attend Sweet Home Charter School next year, Horton said. The assumption that the loss of students to the school would be offset by increases in its other elementary schools did not happen last year, and the district is not making that assumption in the 2007-08 budget.
The Public Employees Retirement System is still an unknown in regard to dollars required to meet future and current obligations, Horton said. Investment performance could have an impact on PERS rates in the years ahead.
Also new math and science requirements for graduation may require additional staff over the next couple of years.
The total of all district 2007-08 funds is $28.9 million, a $649,000 increase from last year. Of that, $18.9 million is in the General Fund, which includes most of the district’s programs. This is an increase from $18.3 million in 2006-07.
About $4.4 million is part of the district’s 2001 bond and subsequent bond sales to help cover PERS obligations. The remainder is in other programs and grant funds, including federal “Title” programs, such as free and reduced lunch and special education programs.
Some $40,000 has been included in the proposed budget to pay for painting. New buses have been leased at a cost of about $159,000 per year. The district’s early retirement fund has been increased from $50,000 to $250,000 to partially offset the district’s early retirement liability of approximately $2 million.
The proposal will transfer $75,000 into a long-term maintenance fund in addition to a $25,000 transfer in 2006-07, with a fund balance of $350,000.
Of that, $100,000 is earmarked for improvements to the grandstands at Husky Field, $50,000 for energy-efficient windows and $200,000 for other long-term maintenance needs in the district.
Present at Monday’s meeting and voting to approve the budget and the addition of a school resource officer were Bessie Lovik, Ken Roberts, Jeff Lynn, David Kem, Jason Redick, Ken Turner, Mike Reynolds, Scott Weld, Lena Neuschwander and Diane Gerson. Absent were David VanDerlip, Joe Graville, Barb Tackett, Scott Melcher and Jennifer Thompson.