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First cut -- $827,500 -- advised SCHOOL BOARD FINANCE COMMITTEE Staff Writer The first cut will be the deepest, but more are sure to follow.
The Brainerd School Board finance committee recommended to the board $827,500 in budget cuts Tuesday with $342,500 in additional cuts to be decided next week as a first step in slicing away at the district's projected $3 million budget shortfall. Additional cuts may be made later, depending on a number of factors, including what funding relief state lawmakers plan to provide school districts during the current legislative session.
The finance committee in a 2-1 vote recommended the school board spend down $1.2 million of the district's fund balance to soften program and staff cuts. While all board members attended Tuesday's finance committee meeting, only three board members are on the committee and allowed to vote. Board members Bob Nystrom and Ruth Gmeinder voted to spend down $1.2 million of the unreserved fund balance while board chair Bernie Roberts voted against the recommendation.
Roberts advocated a more conservative approach of spending up to $1 million of the fund balance to allow for more flexibility next year when the district will most likely have to make more cuts. Board member Reed Campbell said he favored a $1 million fund balance reduction as well while board member Kent Montgomery said he would vote for a $1.2 million reduction. Montgomery said he would rather expend additional dollars from the fund balance now rather than have to rebuild programs dismantled through cuts and staff reductions. Board member Lew Hudson said he was more comfortable with a $1 million spend-down but was open to accepting whatever recommendation the finance committee gives the board at its meeting April 11.
The district is projected to have a $5 million unreserved fund balance, or about 8 percent of the district's $63 million budget, by June 30. Steve Dickinson, director of business services, said an 8 percent fund balance is about a month's worth of operational expenses. The district may need to consider taking out a low-interest loan, as half of all school districts do, to retain a healthy cash flow if the unreserved fund balance dips too low during some months, said Dickinson. At the end of the 2005-06 fiscal year, the district would be looking at about a 5 percent fund balance, or just more than $3 million, said Dickinson. This would cover two to three weeks in operational expenses.
Dickinson said it is healthy for the district to retain a 10 percent fund balance, but it is there to be used when needed during difficult funding cycles.
"That's really where we want to be on the next rainy day," said Dickinson, adding that the district's fund balance had been this low in the 1980s, but back up to about 12 percent in the mid-1990s.
Superintendent Jerry Walseth said there are other factors that may increase or reduce the $3 million budget shortfall. The district is projecting a $700,000 net increase as a result of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's recent budget proposal, which could change as state lawmakers determine what relief to provide school districts in the state this legislative session.
Other factors that may have a bearing on the district's budget include:
* Perkins federal technical/vocational funding, which could cost the district $120,000, is proposed to be eliminated.
* If the district adopts Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal for Q-Comp funding, or pay-for-performance funding for teachers, it could receive $1.6 million over the next two years.
* The $3 million budget shortfall does not include settlements for the 2005-07 teacher or administrative contracts.
* If two staff development days are eliminated, it could save the district $220,000, but would have to be negotiated with the teachers' union.
* About 10-12 teachers will retire next year at Brainerd High School.
* The district may review Advanced Placement courses offered at BHS and the courses with the lowest enrollment figures may be offered every other year instead.
At Tuesday's finance committee, administrators presented the committee with two pages of prioritized budget reductions, totaling $2 million. The committee recommended $827,500 in cuts and decided to take several programs "off the table" as potential program cuts for the 2005-06 school year. Committee members requested administrators present another prioritized list at the finance committee's next meeting on April 7 where committee members will then select an additional $342,500 in program and staff cuts.
The $827,500 in budget reductions recommended by the committee Tuesday are from the following categories: Administration and school board, $241,000; transportation, $112,000; staff development, $38,000; athletics, $120,000; secretarial, $45,000; and educational assistants, $271,500.
Recommended program and staff cuts
The finance committee will recommend to the school board April 11 the following program and staff reductions for the 2005-06 school year:
* Up to 20 full-time-equivalent educational assistants in a variety of areas, including special education and transportation. Assistant Superintendent Gary Phillips said many educational assistants have 2- to 3-hour-a-day work schedules so this could affect more than 20 educational assistants. The district employs 223 educational assistants.
* Eliminate one assistant principal, or a $100,000 reduction. Dave Frank, assistant principal at Franklin Junior High School, will be shifted to Todd Lyscio's vacated position at Forestview Middle School after Lyscio takes over as Brainerd Community Education director in July. Franklin Principal Willy Severson will serve next year as principal at the Freshmen Center, the former Mississippi Horizons, without an assistant principal.
* The Baxter liaison officer at Forestview Middle School will be eliminated, a $55,000 budget reduction.
* The district will eliminate its $15,300 legal retainer for school district attorney Tom Fitzpatrick and pay for attorney services on an hourly basis.
* School board members will pay health insurance premiums on par with teachers, rather than receiving health insurance at no cost, saving $20,700.
* Television production projects at the high school will be eliminated, saving $10,000.
* Transportation for middle school physical education students to area bowling alleys, the YMCA pool, skating rinks and other activities will be eliminated at a $47,000 savings. Phillips said there are several new opportunities for students at Forestview, including walking trails, a skating rink and fields.
* Athletic shuttle buses will be eliminated for students in grades 5-8 at a cost savings of $30,000.
* One bus route, partly due to consolidation in the Nisswa area, will be eliminated at a cost savings of $35,000.
* Transportation and lodging for athletes, particularly for junior high sports and out-of-state extracurricular activities, will be reduced at a savings of $40,000.
* Athletics staffing, including the elimination of an undisclosed number of assistant coaching positions and an overall downsizing of athletic programs, for a $30,000 reduction.
* Sports participation fees will be increased from $40 to $60 per sport. Gate fees will increase at games from $4 for adults and $2 for students to $5 for adults and $3 for students to increase revenue by $50,000.
Program, staff cuts no longer "on the table"
The finance committee voted unanimously to take several possible program and staff cuts "off the table" because they felt strongly against making these reductions. Those programs that were considered for reduction but currently will not be cut include the following:
* A $30,000 reduction for the Beginning Teacher Support System.
* Middle Level Alternative Program, a $145,000 program.
* Service Learning program for 90 ninth-grade students, a $135,000 program.
* School Farm, a $100,000 program.
* Apple Cafe, a $25,000 program.
* Elementary art coordinator, $50,000.
* K-8 music, $75,000 to eliminate the fourth-grade choir and kindergarten music program.
* Electronics program, a $75,000 program, taken out of consideration because the teacher will be retiring next year and it could potentially be eliminated at that time.
Program, staff cuts to be considered next week
The finance committee will receive another prioritized list of program and staff cuts at its April 7 meeting and make a final recommendation to the school board for $342,500 in additional cuts. Those cuts will come from the following list of administrative recommendations:
* Chemical dependency counselor, $40,000.
* Cornerstone Counseling, $8,000.
* Special education, $82,000.
* Teaching staff: 1.3 teachers at BHS, $70,000; two K-12 physical education instructors, $100,000; 1.75 elementary school media specialists, $87,500; a Baxter elementary teacher, $50,000; a Garfield elementary teacher, $50,000; and a Nisswa elementary teacher, $50,000. Several proposed teacher reductions involve not filling positions after teacher retirements.
JODIE TWEED can be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
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