For months USD 257 board members have known the upcoming year’s budget will be short because of state aid reductions and an enrollment decline. Total loss in revenue is $432,609.
Also, for months Dr. Craig Neuenswander, superintendent of schools, has told them where cuts could be made. The wild card is how much more the district will pay for health insurance premiums.
Board members rehashed the numbers again Monday night with much the same result, a $110,270 deficit after adjustments were made.
“That’s an eye-opening figure, but we can get there,” Neuenswander said, by triggering several reductions or increasing cuts on the table, such as those in classroom and building supplies. “I won’t have a recommendation until we determine what insurance is going to cost us.”
For years the district has paid premiums for employees. They have had the option of including family members at their expense.
With the district’s current carrier, Preferred Health, premiums would increase $252,000. Quotes from other companies have been sought, but aren’t expected for another two weeks or so.
A second option board members have is to negotiate a health insurance benefit of something less than a full membership for employees. The caveat there is that at least 70 percent must be enrolled to maintain a group and such a change might make that hard to accomplish.
Neuenswander will leave the district July 1 for a financial position with the Kansas Department of Education, but promised not to leave the BOE in a financial lurch.
“I’ll come back and help out if you want me to,” he said, when asked about concluding work on the budget in July.
Neuenswander hopes to be able to make recommendations, depending on insurance information, at the June 27 meeting.
In a related matter, he reminded board members they could increase the capital outlay budget levy to generate additional money. It is at 4.5 mills, which produces $297,000, including some motor vehicle tax revenue, and could be increased by as much as 3.5 mills, to raise another $177,000.
Neuenswander thinks the district can get by without a levy increase next school year, but may have to consider one the following year, unless the economy’s rebound accelerates.
Capital outlay money may be spent on equipment and building repairs and improvements, as well as such things as the $128,000 Bowlus Fine Arts Center user fee. Advantage to the general fund is that responsibility within it for some of those things can be shifted to the capital outlay.
MEANWHILE, board members made several purchases.
They bought 20 computers for the industrial arts program from Gov/Connection for $12,960; 48 notebook computers for two classrooms at Jefferson Elementary for $13,296, also from Gov/Connection; and 14 security cameras for Iola High and Jefferson and McKinley elementaries for $25,787, including installation, from Advantage Computers, Iola. They also purchased a classroom sound system for Lincoln Elementary for $17,500, from Lightspeed Technologies, Tualatin, Ore.
Brett Linn, technology director, said grants and money encumbered in the district’s budget were available for the purchases.
The district will spend $25,567, in capital outlay money, to repair and resurface its tennis courts.
“I know this isn’t the best time to spend money, but if we don’t do it this year we may lose the tennis courts,” Neuenswander said. “Another winter like the last and there may not be much left.”
The tennis courts, a block east of the high school, have been in place about 20 years.
A decision will be made June 27 on whether to install a computerized time card system, costing $7,850 for software and $2,050 a year to maintain. Neuenswander said the current hands-on time cards were time-consuming to manage and inefficient. Many other districts have computerized programs, he said.
A STUDY of the Crossroads alternative school will be done on how many students the school serves and what they do after leaving the school. Crossroads offers an opportunity for students who drop out at Iola High to continue their secondary educations.
Neuenswander suggested a study group including the high school principal and his assistant, the Crossroads director and a student or two. He anticipates a report by November.
Preliminary numbers indicate the district achieved adequate yearly progress in 2010-11, measured by state assessment tests, Neuenswander said, which would remove the district from “improvement” ordered three years ago when the district failed to meet standards.
“We’ll have official numbers in late summer,” he said.
Erica French, who recently moved to Iola, was hired to teach language arts at the high school and Kelsie Yarbrough, a recent Kansas State University graduate, will be the new middle and high schools band instructor.
