District 15 board adopts 2011-2012 preliminary budget
by Tammy Sakry
Staff Writer
Although it has no idea what its funding will be, the St. Francis School District 15 Board had to pass its preliminary 2011-2012 budget.
The board June 27 approved the preliminary general fund budget of $50,788,265 on a 4-2 vote. Boardmembers Marsha Van Denburgh and Mark Vogel voted against and Boardmember David Anderson was absent.
The budget is 7.05 percent less than the 2010-2011 budget of $50,835,724.
As of this time, the district has no idea yet what funding it will receive from the state nor has it received notice of what federal revenues it receive, Business Services Director Mae Hawkins said.
But if the board does not pass the preliminary budget, the district would be facing a shutdown, she said.
As that the state is facing a possible government shutdown with the budget unresolved, the school board also approved opening a $4 million letter of credit with Associated Bank N.A. of Minneapolis.
The letter of credit is a safeguard if the state budget is not resolved by September, Hawkins said.
If the district needed to draw on the letter of credit, it would need to be repay the money within 45 days and with interest not exceeding 2.95 percent, she said.
This is the first time in the district has had to open a letter of credit, Hawkins said.
If the budget negotiations are protracted through September, “is there a point we would say we are not opening our doors,” Vogel asked.
The state constitution requires the state government to educate the students and as the state legislators want to get re-elected, they will come up with something that does not close schools, Hawkins said.
Preliminary budget
Hawkins said the preliminary budget is based on the assumption the district’s funding from the state will remain flat, federal revenues will offset the federal expenditures and a student enrollment projection of 4,980 average daily members (ADM).
For its 2010-2011 preliminary budget, the district’s enrollment projection was 5,150 ADM.
With a decreasing enrollment, the levy will also be dropping from $5,227,937 to $5,086,302 for the upcoming year.
The district receives most of its revenue from the state, Hawkins said in her budget report.
According to the report, the district will receive 83.9 percent of its funds from the state and 3.9 percent from the federal government with 10.8 percent coming from the levy.
Two years ago, the district received 76.9 percent from the state, 13.2 percent from the federal government and 7.4 percent of its funding from the levy.
In 2011-2012, the district expects to spend $47,209,080, a 7.05 percent decrease from the 2010-2011 amount of $50,788,265.
It expects to spend:
• 74.9 percent on instructional/classroom;
• 8.5 pupil support;
• 9.4 percent on sites and buildings;
• 3.5 percent on district support services; and
• 3.2 percent on district and school administration.
For the 2010-2011 school year, the district spent:
• 75.5 percent for instructional/classroom;
• 9.1 sites and buildings;
• 8.3 percent on pupil support services;
• 3.5 on district support services; and
• 3 percent on district and school administration.
According to Hawkins, state revenue is expected to drop from $40,237,514 to $39,531,764 and the federal sources from $3,508,110 to $1,853,537, which is a 47.16 percent drop.
“State funding has not kept pace with inflation for the past 15 years, resulting in over 90 percent of school districts in Minnesota needing to supplement their basic instructional budgets with operating referendums,” Hawkins said in her report.
There is also a $3.3 million revenue shift back to the state from the federal government and the federal America Recovery Act and Jobs Funds revenue is being phased out from the last year.
Because of the shift and the dropping enrollment, regular instruction funding will drop from $25,362,306 to $23,201,404 and special education instruction funding will decrease from $9,684,355 to $9,305,280.
Vocational training funding will drop by 21.07 percent to $788,583 in 2011-2012.
Questioning spending
Why is the district spending more money in 2011-2012 school year, than it’s taking in, Vogel said.
There were purchases that were deferred from the 2010-2011 school year because the items were not available at the time, Hawkins said.
If the district is taking the $100,000 for the purchases from its reserve fund, it is no better than the state. He would have rather taken the $100,000 hit in the 2010-2011 school year than defer it, Vogel said.
The district’s budget will also have to absorb an $84,997 increase in workers’ compensation insurance.
The district received the new liability and workers’ compensation contract from the insurance company last week and the rate was higher based on the number of claims the district has had, Hawkins said.
Van Denburgh asked if the cost is going to passed onto the school sites and if they will be asked to trim their budgets again.
As that the site budgets were completed earlier this year and the individual building staffing has already been done, the budgets cannot be redone, Hawkins said.
Without knowing what the state Legislature is going to do, it is possible the district is going to get less money than it expects, Van Denburgh said.
“It’s concerning,” she said.
Elementary impact
Long before the state Legislature started talking about its budget, every district’s school site received a budget allowance based on projected 2011-2012 student enrollments.
With numbers in hand, school leadership met with their Site Management Committee (SMC), which includes parents, teachers and administration, to determine how each school would handle the budget reductions. The plans were finished in March.
Although its enrollment is projected to remain at 630 students, East Bethel Community School’s budget will be $2,402,897, $175,706 less than 2010-2011 school year.
The changes will be minimal, said Principal Angela Scardigli.
The school has reduced its teaching staff by two.
There will be one less first-, second- and third-grade sections and an additional fifth-grade teacher has been added for 2011-2012, Scardigli said.
At St. Francis Elementary School, projections have enrollment dropping from 720 to 672 students.
Its budget will go from the 2010-2011 amount of $2,748,120 to $2,631,061 for 2011-2012 school year.
The school eliminated a fifth-grade teacher position, a part-time kindergarten teacher position and a noon education assistant, said Principal Kathy Kohnen.
Although it has an enrollment of 861 in October, Cedar Creek Community School’s enrollment is projected to drop to 800 for the 2011-2012 school year.
Its budget dropped from $3,599,296 in 2010-2011 to $3,053,628 for the upcoming year.
According to Principal Darin Hahn’s report, the school has eliminated the assistant principal position, one teacher from first-, second- and third-grade sections as well as the full-time enrichment position.
The school will also be reducing hours for its social work staff, music, technology, physical education and intervention staff.
Middle school
The biggest change St. Francis Middle School students will see this coming year will be the change to a five-period day.
But the school administration is planning for less students and a smaller budget.
For 2010-2011, the school had 1,239 students and it is expected it will have approximately 1,165 students, said Principal Dale Johnson.
The school’s budget will be dropping by $397,420 to $4,710,106 for the 2011-2012 school year.
He had to eliminate a science, two social studies and a sixth-grade reading teaching positions, Johnson said.
School administration was also reduced.
The middle school had to eliminate one of the two assistant principal positions, Johnson said.
To help compensate for the loss of an assistant principal, the school will be implementing a behavior intervention program, which will cost around $40,000, he said.
St. Francis HS
When St. Francis High School students get their class schedules this summer, they may notice they did not get all the classes they wanted.
“It’s not unusual, but there will be less opportunities for the students to take electives as in the past,” said Assistant Principal Luanne Wagner.
The change is due to additional class mandates and the reduction of teaching staff.
During the 2010-2011 school year, 1,619 students roamed the halls. Projections estimate the high school will only have 1,575 students in the coming year.
The school’s budget for the coming year is $7,259,939, a reduction of $531,287.
The school has reduced 5.77 full-time equivalent positions for 2011-2012, said Principal Paul Neubauer.
The reductions will be in language arts, business education, family and consumer science, social studies, physical education, a part-time industrial arts technology and the French teacher position will be reduced to by three to four hours.
As a result of the reductions, the classes at the school have been reviewed, updated or eliminated if they were outdated or lack enrollment, Wagner said.
Driver’s education classes will now be handled through Community Education.
Districtwide cuts
The district made $927,920 reductions in its own budget.
According to Hawkins, the reductions were made by delaying textbook purchases, combining bus routes, change service contracts, reducing building repair capital outlay and reducing staff development.
Tammy Sakry is at tammy.sakry@ecm-inc.com
