School district looks at budget shortfall

"Is there any good news?" an audience member asked school board member Dan Contini at Wednesday night's Mat-Su Borough School Board meeting.

Not much, it appeared. While the school board had several diverse items on its agenda Wednesday night, the district's more than $3 million budget shortfall seemed to weave its way into almost every subject. Much of the public testimony at the meeting focused on the recent layoffs of 48 classified employees and other staff changes caused by the crunch. Many of the reports by district staffers signaled more unforeseen expenditures in the district's future.

Interim Superintendent Robert Doyle, in his report to the board, was frank. While promising to have a budget ready for the board on Feb. 5, Doyle said the budget in the works for fiscal year 2004 is not balanced. "But I can say we're within striking distance of balancing it," he said.

Doyle offered several possibilities for dealing with the shortage. Among those: closing Trapper Creek Elementary School, increasing class loads to a ratio of 26 students per teacher (at all enrollment-driven schools, which are mainly those in the core area), raising the cost of school lunches by 25 cents, eliminating all elementary school counselor positions, curtailing stipends for co-curricular activities, closing the community technology center and reducing funding for several programs, including Palmer High School's International Baccalaureate Program (Doyle said that money would instead be distributed equally among district high schools).

Other items Doyle suggested, such as seeking to cut district utilities costs, would also impact the community, but not as directly. When questioned by board members on how utility costs could be cut, Doyle replied that one way to do that would be to "limit the consumption of electricity during non-school hours" -- when schools are often utilized or rented by outside groups. Doyle also suggested that perhaps the rental costs for using school facilities might go up to help pay for utility costs.

Recognizing that none of the measures will likely be popular, Doyle concluded his report with, "I believe we'll have considerable dialogue on this."

The dialog began Thursday morning, as calls began coming in to district offices from concerned parents and other community members, who heard that Trapper Creek Elementary was closing.

Kim Floyd, public information specialist with the district, was quick to reassure parents that the closure, like other possibilities mentioned at Wednesday night's meeting, was only a proposal and not a definite plan, and would not even take place until the 2003-04 school year. "The school board would have the final say," Floyd explained, noting that none of the proposals have officially been put before the board. "All of the proposals will be presented through the budget," when it is presented to the board on Feb. 5, she said.

Floyd said the public will have ample opportunities to comment during March at planned public hearings.

And Floyd, Doyle and district Transportation Director Scott Schwald planned to head out to Talkeetna on Jan. 23 to speak with parents there about the proposed Trapper Creek school closure. If that were to happen, Floyd said, the 26 students attending would be bussed to Talkeetna Elementary School, approximately 30 miles away.

While there would be an additional cost for bussing the students, Floyd said it would still "not be as much as we would lose (financially) by keeping them at Trapper Creek." But Floyd said money is not the only concern for the district. "The parents are of course concerned about the time the kids would be spending on the bus, as are we," she said. "We are, believe it or not, very concerned about the human side of this. Yes, we're concerned about the monetary side, but we are concerned about the human side, too."There was more bad news at Wednesday's meeting, in the form of several reports presented by district staff members. Paula Harrison, director of the district's Human Resources and Labor Relations department, reported on the cost of what is known as "column movements," or increases in teacher salaries given for furthering their education.

Last year, the district paid teachers more than $300,000 in wage increases for continuing education. That amount has more than doubled this year, to $727,000 so far. An additional $50,000 was expected to be requested by the end of the school year, but the amount could actually be as much as $175,000 to $200,000 more, Harrison said.

Part of the problem, explained Floyd, is that previously the district had a deadline on when teachers could submit column movement requests. This year, however, the deadline was changed as part of district-teacher bargaining, so teachers can submit requests throughout the school year. And some wage increases (if filed before Sept. 30) are retroactive to the beginning of the school year once approved.

For most of the teachers requesting column movements, the difference in salary amounted to around $3,000 to $7,000 for the year. For a few, however, the difference was more substantial: one teacher who began the year with a bachelor's degree ended with a master's degree and a raise of $12,685. Another teacher who began with a bachelor's degree earned 60 college credits -- and an $11,073 increase in salary.

Harrison noted that with the passage of the federal "No Child Left Behind Act" this month, the cost of these salary increases will likely continue to go up. The act mandates that teachers be "highly qualified" in the field in which they teach, and Harrison said there will likely be many more teachers heading back to school to make sure they are not "left behind."

Doyle said the cost of column movements will definitely impact the budget next year, and in years to come. He noted that the Mat-Su School District already has "the highest salaries in the region … our salary schedule exceeds that of Anchorage and Fairbanks."

An update on district enrollment by Assistant Superintendent of Business Jack Sherman also brought bad news. Enrollment figures reported to the state last fall were off by approximately 100 students, according to a spot-check on figures by the state's Dept. of Education and Early Development. Because the district receives state funding based on the actual number of students enrolled, that meant the district receives approximately $350,000 less than expected for this year's budget.

School board members asked Sherman if it was known why the over-reporting occurred. "Who is accountable here?" asked board member Linda Menard.

According to Floyd, the discrepancies were caused by a combination of factors, which, she said, the district is rushing to correct. In the past, the district has "rolled over" student lists for the following year, and it is up to the individual schools to make sure each student is actually attending and report to the district if that is not the case. "Apparently," she said, "that may not have been happening."

Sherman told the board Wednesday night, some schools reported they felt correcting enrollment "was not a priority" or that "that's how they were told to do it."

Floyd said the district plans to change how they report enrollment. They will still roll over lists, she said, but will now only activate a name once a school verifies the student is actually in school. "And we will do better to make sure the staff knows that's a priority," she added.

Floyd noted that the district is challenging the state's charge that 103 students were over-reported. In some cases, she said, the district has verified that a student is enrolled in a Mat-Su school when the state's audit said otherwise. "That means another district is counting them on their roll," she said, noting that many other districts around the state "are in the same boat we're in."

However, on Wednesday Sherman said the state may decide to formally audit the Mat-Su district's enrollment paperwork. "They haven't decided who or which [district] they're going to audit," he said, "but we seem to be the one they keep looking at right now."

School board president Michael Chmielewski did offer one ray of hope toward the end of Wednesday night's meeting, stating that board members had met recently with the Valley's Juneau delegation, and that legislation has been introduced that may increase state funding for schools.

The effects of such legislation, if passed, would not likely be felt for some time, however.

In the meantime, as board member Robert Wells said Wednesday, "Nobody's happy with the situation we're in right now."

Jobs listed at schools

Ironically, while the district is seeking ways to cut the budget, the district's Web site is still advertising several job openings. Openings among classified employee listings range from a part-time school monitor at Butte Elementary (paying $9.81 an hour) to a full-time case manager at Burchell High School (paying $13.64 an hour.) There are several openings for part-time custodians (paying $10.64 an hour).

Some of the 48 classified employees laid off in December filled custodial positions, and Floyd admitted some of the positions being advertised were a result of the lay-offs, as those positions were reduced from full-time to part-time. However, she said, "those on the lay-off list will have first consideration for those jobs." She added that not everyone who had filled a full-time position would be interested in switching to a part-time position.

The district is also advertising for a principal for Houston Middle School for the 2003-04 school year, a 208-day contract that would pay $64,826-$71,431, depending on experience. The Web site also advertises vacancies for certified teachers for special education, math/science, language arts and for elementary schools, as well as high school counselors, speech therapist, school psychologist, vision specialist, physical therapist, a hearing specialist, an occupational therapist and in "all areas" of vocational education.

The salary schedule for the 2002-03 school year (based on 183 days) shows a minimum salary of $35,287.

Despite what the Web site advertised, Floyd said there is a hiring "slow-down" in effect. "Not a hiring freeze, but a hiring slow-down." She added, "Right now each and every hire is coming across the desk of the interim chief school administrator (Doyle)."