School board moving toward increasing fund balance

February 20-24 was School Board Recognition Week. The ISD 166 school board was presented with plaques and a very beautiful cake at its February 23 regular meeting. The plaques say, “Your Minnesota School Boards Association honors [you] for dedicated leadership in public education and continuing service to the children of this community.” (L-R) Mary Sanders, Jeanne Anderson, Deb White, Terry Collins. Not pictured is Leonard Sobanja.

Sticking to one’s budgeting principles can be painful. On February 23, 2012, the ISD 166 school board approved a preliminary budget for 2012- 13 that will make some obvious impacts on people and programs, but numerous less painful cuts will soften the blow. The budget will move the district closer to a prior board’s resolve to maintain a 45-day fund balance.

The preliminary budget calls for exchanging four student instructional days for teacher in-service days, reducing staff to better reflect student numbers, and reducing the athletic budget by $10,000, among other things.

Cutbacks call for reducing faculty by the equivalent of four full-time employees, reducing Guidance Counselor Bryan Hackbarth’s job by half, reducing Transportation and Facilities Director Mike Groth’s salary and benefits package by $6,685, reducing Superintendent Beth Schwarz’s salary and benefits package by $2,700, reducing health services by $14,200, reducing a secretarial position to .65 (on the job only during school hours) and reducing maintenance staff by the equivalent of 1.25 full-time positions. District office Administrative Assistant Kathleen Johnson’s retirement will save money but leave the school with less help.

The good news is that these changes are expected to bring the unassigned fund balance to $875,173, the equivalent of 30 days in reserve. It would be an increase of $225,173 or 7.7 days.

Helping the financial picture are things like the possibility of renting space out in the west wing and faculty participation in Q-Comp, which would bring extra state dollars to the district for things like teacher evaluations and professional development.

“We are talking about keeping three teachers for K-1,” Superintendent Beth Schwarz said. “We both [Schwarz and Principal Gwen Carman] have some discomfort in taking away student instructional days, but we see great value in teacher in-service days.”

Regarding a reduction in secretarial staff, Schwarz said, “Efficiency will become an issue. Other things may not get done.” Some reduction in workload will come naturally with enrollment continuing to decline over the next several years. “This building used to service a lot more kids,” Schwarz said. “How do we shrink the square footage of this building? …We need to start thinking that we are a school of 430 kids.” School enrollment is currently 465. Not reducing the budget now would result in drastic cuts in two years, she said.

School board member Deb White said they may need to move staff out of the west wing “and take the keys.” Potential rental of space in the west wing is expected to bring in $8,000 a year.

The two health service employees, Allison Heeren and Kay Borud, have been “amazing” in their attitudes and helpfulness in reducing their budget, said Schwarz, which is likely to impact their own jobs.

Community Education and sports

Schwarz said decisions will need to be made about the Community Ed gym because a new floor is badly needed, a cost of about $70,000. Making a decision about this is difficult right now because discussions have started regarding the possibility of building a new community center in that spot.

If the school’s primary job is academics but participation in sports is good for health and the prevention of social ills, said school board member Terry Collins, when do they seek outside support to keep those activities in place? At what point should other entities support sports in a bigger way? “Our money ought to remain in the academic enterprise,” he said. Law enforcement and healthcare costs would increase if school sports were not available, he added. The superintendent agreed, saying that prevention is vital to a healthy community.

The Community Education budget continues to operate with a deficit, although its budget is completely separate from the regular district budget and deficits are not covered by regular education funds. “The fitness center has been in the red every year since it was started,” Schwarz said.

School board member Jeanne Anderson reported on the work of the Finance Team, which has been discussing budget challenges and the impact of increasing the fund balance. “We’re not alone in all these tough decisions that we’re faced with,” she said.

Other districts

Anderson described how other districts are dealing with funding challenges. A collaborative of seven districts is coordinating their school day schedules so they can share online classes. One district is increasing the distance students must walk or otherwise provide their own transportation to school. Cloquet cut 10 days of annual instructional time in order to get closer to its fund balance goal. Another district is placing one of its principals on unrequested leave of absence and expanding the job of another principal to fill in the vacated duties of the other principal.

“It’s a hard time,” said Anderson, “and we all want what’s best for our students.”

School board meeting schedule

In 2012, the school board will be meeting at 5:00 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month, with a 15-minute informal discussion with community members preceding each meeting.