School board: Preliminary budget approved for 2017-18

Brainerd Public Schools now has a plan for the 2017-18 school year.

The Brainerd School Board Monday afternoon approved the preliminary 2017-18 budget, following a presentation from Steve Lund, director of business services.

"The preliminary budget is our roadmap," Lund said.

The 2017-18 general fund budget includes the following highlights:

• An increase in general education formula aid of 2 percent,

• An increase of approximately 3.5 percent in state funding for reimbursement of special education costs,

• An increase in enrollment of approximately 33 more students than 2016-17,

• A planned reduction of approximately 8.74 full-time equivalent staff positions,

• An overall net increase in revenues of 1.78 percent,

• An overall net increase in expenses of 1.94 percent,

• An increase in the overall net operating deficit from approximately $671,865 to $812,469,

• A reduction of the unassigned fund balance to a level equal to 8.3 percent of general fund expenses.

The district is predicting an increase of 33 students for 2017-18, bringing the projected district enrollment for the upcoming year to 6,544. The preliminary budget includes a projected incoming kindergarten class of 474 students, which is based on historical trends, Lund said. This is perplexing, he said, because as of Monday, kindergarten registrations for 2017-18 totaled 503 students.

"So history always does change," Lund said. "Very good news for us."

In order to make sure there's enough room for the extra students, the district is keeping a close eye on enrollment at Riverside and Baxter elementary schools, Lund said. There were 100 kindergarteners at Riverside last year, he said, and there are currently 135 students signed up for next year. The story is the same at Baxter, where there were 95 kindergartners last year and 121 students signed up for the 2017-18 school year.

"We're keeping an eye on them to make sure that we can respond accordingly to keep class sizes low," Lund said.

The district is planning to eliminate 21.04 full-time equivalent employees for the coming year and add 12.3 FTE, producing a net decrease of 8.74 FTE. The district employs about 795 FTE and the district's largest employment group is teachers. There are about 450 FTE teachers included in the 2017-18 preliminary budget.

In other business, the board:

Had the final reading of district policy 213-School Board Committees. The policy stipulates no more than two board members will be appointed to each committee. The policy notes the committees are advisory and are designed to make recommendations and provide updates to the full school board. The meetings of these committees will be open to the public.

As he did during the second reading at the June 12 meeting, board member Tom Haglin defended the district's previous committee policy. This included the practice of board members attending meetings of committees they were not members of, creating a quorum of the school board at committee meetings.

"It was a much stronger, healthier system for our community," Haglin said.

Approved an agreement with Brad Wadsten at Edina Realty for listing services for the 2017-18 Brainerd High School trades home. The brokerage fee will be a flat $3,000 and not based as a percentage of the sale price of the home. Of the $3,000, Brad and Matt Wadsten will donate $1,500 to the BHS robotics program.

The 2016-17 BHS trades home sold at auction June 3 for $54,000, Lund said, after a buyer couldn't be found at the listed price of $55,900 before the contracted deadline of March 15. After the deadline, the sale goes to a live auction or a sealed bid process, he said. Because of a slight increase in material costs, the 2017-18 BHS trades home will be listed at $59,900.

"We have very few programs that break even in the school district," Lund said. "So for this one to break even, we're going to be doing pretty well."

Renewed a contract with Essentia Health-St. Joseph's Medical Center for athletic training services for a two-year term, from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2019.

Approved a contract with CliftonLarsonAllen for audit and nonaudit services at a cost of $37,900. The cost is the same price for the third year in a row and has only risen 3.7 percent in the last decade. The contract covers services for the district's fiscal year ending June 30.