Summary of 2005 Activities

Transcription

1 Tumwater School District Budget Advisory Committee Summary of 2005 Activities Meetings The committee met five times between March 22 and June 7, All meetings were on Tuesdays from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. in the District Office. Meetings were chaired by Allen Jones, Director of Financial Resources. Mission The committee is advisory to the district administration and the school board. The committee serves as a: Sounding board for budget proposals and plans, Source of ideas for district consideration, Place to ask questions and get answers about district finances, and A forum for discussing budget priorities Committee Participants This year the following members participated: Community Members Stuart Brotherston Parent, Black Hills HS Rita Luce Former Parent, Tumwater HS Dennis Mydlar Rotary Lori Jo Stuart Parent, Black Lake Elementary Rose Gundersen Parent, East Olympia & Bush MS Karen Durant Parent, Black Lake Elementary Joy Platter Parent, Black Lake Elementary & Tumwater MS School Board Members Liz Larsen Jay Wood Union Representatives Terry VanMeter Tumwater Education Association (TEA) Kevan Hagen Bush MS Librarian & Parent - TEA Mary Taylor Tumwater Office Professionals Association (TOPA) Sandra Gallo Nonrepresented District Office Staff Steve Yale Public School Employees (PSE) Building Staff Trisha Smith Principal, MT Simmons Elementary Brian Duke Principal, Tumwater Hill Elementary Jon Wilcox Principal, Tumwater Middle School Loren Grunenfelder Principal, GW Bush Middle School Scott Seaman Principal, Tumwater High School Aaron Davis Principal Intern Cindy Tobeck East Olympia Teacher

2 District Administrative Staff Allen Jones Director of Financial Resources (Facilitator of BAC) Rochele Hedden Supervisor of Accounting Matt McCauley Director of Human Resources Suzanne Hall Director of Student Learning Karen Schoessel Director of Special Education Bob Kuehl Director of Capital Projects Butch Sweet Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds John Clark Supervisor of Pupil Transportation Ken Ames Coordinator of Maintenance Teri Cole District Office Staff First Meeting March 22 Superintendent Terry Borden welcomed committee members and set out the district s Budget Parameters. Terry emphasized the district s strategic plan and primary goal of improving student learning to help every child be successful. The budget should reflect this goal. Each committee member of the committee introduced themselves and shared their biases and particular interests. Community members expressed interests in increasing funding for school building budgets, expanding all-day kindergarten, pay-to-play, and accountability for district spending. Allen Jones shared the budget timeline, Governor Gregoire s K-12 Budget proposal, and some of the challenges of the budget. Suzanne Hall, the district s Director of Student Learning, reviewed the district s Student Achievement Priorities. She identified the need for about one million dollars in new spending for the next three years to: o Systematically analyze and use student data and assessments, o Align curriculum with grade level expectations and state assessments, o Provide staff development for new curriculum, and o Provided extended learning opportunities for student not meeting standards. Committee members were asked to identify additional topics for discussion by the committee at future meetings. Topics included: o Per pupil building allocations, o I-728 spending plans, o Administrative costs compared to other districts, o Current spending for assessment, staff development, and extended learning, and o All-day kindergarten funding. o Rose Gundersen pointed out the money could be saved by printing committee handouts double-sided instead of single-side. (This was done for subsequent meetings.) Second Meeting April 19 Allen reviewed the district s I-728 spending plan. The plan calls for additional spending for one more all-day kindergarten classroom, extended learning (more hours of instruction for students below standards), and class size reduction (freeing Title II money for staff development). Suzanne Hall presented a summary of New K-12 program costs for This showed specific needs for extended learning, curriculum, staff development, and assessment. Some of these needs can be funded with I-728 money. Allen said the district was responding to concerns about building budgets by providing a moderate increase to Building BEA Allocations. Elementary and Middle School building allocations TSD/Business BAC2005SummaryB.doc 2 10/12/2005

3 increase $4 per student to $90 and $122 respectively. High school allocations remain at $142 for each non-vocational full-time equivalent (FTE) student; and increase by $20 from $142 to $162 for each vocational FTE student. Allen also provided analysis of how building allocations were spent in the school year. Over 90% of the building budgets are spent on printing/copying, supplies, and classroom instructional materials. Allen presented analysis which showed how Tumwater expenditures by activity compared to state averages as a percent of the budget and on a per student basis. Tumwater administrative expenditures for the Board of Directors, Superintendent s Office, Business Office, Maintenance of Buildings, Plant Security, and Information Systems were below the state averages. Expenditures for Human Resources, Grounds Maintenance, and Operation of Buildings were above average. Tumwater s overall expenditures for Program 97 Districtwide Support were 92% of state average expenditures for Program 97. The committee broke into work five workgroups of about four persons each. Each group defined three top spending priorities and three ways to save money/increase revenue in Results are summarized below by giving three points to the first, two points to the second, and one point to the third idea offered by each group. (Some groups offered more than one idea per priority.) Spending Priorities 7 Curriculum (alignment, materials, and training) 7 Math (grades 6-8, grades 9-10) 5 Extended Learning (more instructional time for students below standards) 3 Building Budget Allocations 3 Student Learning/K12 Staffing 2 Staff Development 2 Early Learning/Grades K-3 1 All-Day Kindergarten 1 Elementary Field Trips 1 Staff for Maintenance Cost Saving/Revenue Generating Ideas 9 Pay to Play 3 Increase Fees for All-Day Kindergarten 3 Phase Out Writing Specialists 3 Capture Carryovers for District Needs 3 Cispus 2 Share More High School Programs & Facilities 2 Collective District Pricing/Purchasing 2 Full Day Kindergarten on Alternate Days 1 Eliminate Funding for Channel 26 1 Increase Facility Use Fees 1 Efficiencies from Skyward 1 4-Day School Week Third Meeting May 3 The group discussed the small group priorities created at the April 19 meeting (above). Allen presented information about the district s sources of revenue. Detail was provided on local sources of revenue over which the district has some control. These local revenues totaled $2,033,507 in the school year, or about 4% of the district s total budget. The largest of these is Food Service breakfast and lunch charges, which make up 45% of local revenues. TSD/Business BAC2005SummaryB.doc 3 10/12/2005

4 In response to the committee s interest in pay-to-play, Bob Kuehl, who oversees district athletics and extracurricular activities, presented a survey of High School and Middle School fees in neighboring school districts. North Thurston and Olympia charge $75 per sport for participants. Yelm charges $20 and Chehalis $15. Tumwater, Aberdeen, Shelton, and Centralia charge no fee. The group discussed the topic in some depth, with several members expressing strong support for charging students for participating in athletic and extracurricular activities. Members shared their experiences with pay-to-play in neighboring Olympia and North Thurston School District. Suzanne Hall presented information and led a discussion of all-day kindergarten. The monthly fee ($200 per month) charged by Tumwater was debated, with some members feeling it was too low. Others expressed the idea that first priority should be given to student at risk of failure. Allen presented the district s proposal to increase lunch fees for by 25 cents at all grades. (The increase to elementary lunch prices was subsequently dropped.) Butch Sweet, Building and Grounds Supervisor, presented information about the district s Facility Use policy and fees. The district charges modest cost-recovery fees for community activities serving Tumwater students. Higher fees are charged to groups not primarily serving Tumwater students. Private businesses pay competitive commercial rates. Questions were raised about whether the fees for using the new artificial turf playing field in Tumwater Stadium are high enough. Allen described a possible opportunity for the district to qualify for federal impact aid funding. To qualify the district would have to show that 3% or more of all students come from homes where one or more parent works for the federal government. If the district qualifies a majority of the revenue would be allocated out to the buildings with federally-connected students. Fourth Meeting May 24 Allen gave a status report on the district s budget. Preliminary recommendations for spending state increases in I-728 and the Learning Assistance Program are consistent with the Spending Priorities identified by the Budget Advisory Committee on April 19. Allen gave an update on the proposed lunch price increases. After board consideration, the recommendation is to increase middle school and high school lunch prices 25 cents from $2.00 to $2.25. Elementary lunch prices and breakfast prices at all grades will remain unchanged. Bob Kuehl presented information about the athletic budget. This showed that salaries and benefits for coaches are the largest expense of the athletic budget. The district also pays $35,000 per year for contractual services including contracts for swimming, golf, and bowling. The district spends about $90,000 per year for transportation of teams and clubs to games and events. Committee discussion of pay-to-play continued. Questions were raised about whether ASB or the General Fund should pay for transportation and other athletic costs. Butch Sweet, Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds, handed out a summary of budget cuts the district has made in recent years. The summary showed major reductions in staffing for administration at all levels, and an 8.0 FTE reduction in staffing for custodial, grounds, and maintenance services. Butch has requested funding for an electrician in the budget. The group discussed the need for an electrician and the merits of hiring-vs-contracting for electrician services As a final agenda item committee members were asked to identify areas for further discussion at the final meeting on June 7. Cindy Tobeck, a teacher at East Olympia Elementary, made a strong appeal for funding for elementary field trips. Stuart Brotherston asked if the district was aware of the 65% Solution analysis which compares district on the percentage of resources that are spent in the classroom. TSD/Business BAC2005SummaryB.doc 4 10/12/2005

5 Fifth Meeting June 7 In response to questions from the previous meeting, Allen presented analysis of General Fund spending for extracurricular activities. These expenditures included clubs and co-curricular activities such as drill team/dance, debate, choir, band, and yearbook, in addition to athletic activities. Total budgeted expenditures in were slightly more than one million dollars. Of this amount, $5,983 is budgeted for elementary schools, $183,160 for middle schools, $635,628 for high schools, and $179,653 for centrally managed budgets for music, transportation, and contractual services. Questions were raised about whether elementary schools were getting a fair share of support for extracurricular activities. In response to questions about field trips, Allen presented analysis showing pupil transportation charges billed to extracurricular and instructional activities. In $27,551 was paid for instructional (field trip) travel. Much of the funding for elementary field trips is provided by parent organization donations. Donations are not equally distributed among the six elementary schools. Parents with children in elementary schools questioned the equity of district support for travel at elementary and middle school levels. District staff pointed out that the elementary schools spend a great deal to send sixth graders to Cispus Environmental Learning Center each year. Part of the cost is paid by parent fees; the district contributes more than $20,000 per year for that activity. The group debated the value of field trips to learning and the value of Cispus as a transitional activity. Allen presented Preliminary Budget Highlights. The budget reflects the districts focus on student learning and the budget strategy expressed by Superintendent Borden on March 22 nd. The highlights showed $273,000 for new spending for student learning; over $1.2 million for necessary staff costs (primarily for salary and benefit increases for existing staff); $247,000 for other necessary expenditures including inflationary costs; and $1.8 million in unfunded items. Karen Durant expressed disappointment that more of the recommendations of the Budget Advisory Committee were not in the preliminary budget. Specifically, she was disappointed that pay-for-play was not implemented and there was no money for elementary field trips. Board member, Jay Wood, warned to the danger of imposing new fees in a year the district is asking voters to pass maintenance and operation levy. Allen pointed out that neighboring districts implemented pay-for-play in response to severe budget problems, which made the change more tolerable to the public. In spite of these considerations, support for pay-for-play remained strong on committee. Rose Gundersen asked what value there was to the Budget Advisory Committee s work. Allen responded that committee s value is in the communication that takes place. The committee helps the administration and school board understand what the staff and community values. The administration responded directly to the committee s concern for building budgets by increasing the building allocation. The preliminary budget clearly reflects the Spending Priorities identified by the committee on April 19. The areas not addressed in the budget are primarily in the Cost Saving/Revenue Generating Ideas of the committee. The committee s questions and concerns have caused the district is taking a closer look at local revenues, fees, extracurricular activities, and elementary field trips. In response to the committee s support for funding for elementary field trips, Matt McCauley responded that the committee s interest in this topic had planted seeds. The topic had not been on the district s radar screen before the May 24 th committee meeting. Allen concluded the committee s deliberations by summarizing the remaining steps to budget adoption. A budget summary and highlights will be presented to the Board of Directors on June 23 rd. A draft budget will be released for public review on July 11. Final adoption of the budget is scheduled for the August 25 th School Board meeting. TSD/Business BAC2005SummaryB.doc 5 10/12/2005