UPDATE at the bottom.
At this meeting, the School Board approved the proposed school budget.
Musical Presentation
Students from Godwin Middle School provided the School Board an excellent performance including a rendition of the ever challenging Star Bangled Banner.
Consent Agenda
This included several interesting items.
- Approved payrolls for February in the amount of $40,415,411.85
- Awarded a contract to Caldwell and Santmyer in the total amount of $5,050,000.00 for the renovation and a 11,952 square foot addition at Bel Air Elementary School.
- Approved the award of a contract to PBS Contracting, Inc. in the total amount $581,100.00 to renovate the Transportation (Hooe Road) facility.
Public Hearing FY 2008 Proposed School Budget/CIP Approval
- Citizen comments included a complaint about the relative growth in administrative structure.
- Employee representatives thanked the School Board for asking the Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) for asking for money. One derisively suggested a bake sale to come up with the $2,000,000 difference between what the School Board asked for and what the BOCS offered. A second suggested that the School Board put out its budget and force the BOCS to pick the cuts (Interesting idea, but illegal.).
- Another citizen gave the relevant meeting dates and warned citizens to make certain that the BOCS at least approve the maximum tax rate.
- Several citizens complained that BOCS members treated the School Board with disdain.
FY 2008 Proposed School Budget/CIP Approval
- Reference point: the adopted FY 2007 budget is $1,118,696,340. Even though the Operating Fund increased significantly (from $739,693,085 to $762,139,617), overall the school Board has less money to spend. This is due primarily to a ~21 percent decrease in the Construction Fund.
- Approved the FY 2008 school budget in the total amount of $1,104,415,824. Based upon a projection of 72,236 students, this is $15,288 per student for FY 2008. Ordinarily, when the school division talks about the cost of educating a student, the school division references only the Operating Fund (In this case, $762,139,617). That in this case would give you a number of $10,550 per student for FY 2008. However, that arbitrarily excludes the following:
- Debt Service Fund $57,108,860
- Construction Fund $163,963,000
- Food Services Fund $27,763,639
- Warehouse Fund $4,450,000
- Facilities Use Fund $705,720
- Self Insurance Fund $5,784,421
- Health Insurance Fund $57,203,897
- Regional School Fund $25,296,670
- Superintendent Steven Walts and Don Richardson commended to BOCS for funding the lion’s share of the increase that the School Board asked for. Both men are to be commended for doing so. Richardson, in particular, noted that the BOC is dealing with the same budget reductions and is also responsible for providing citizens important services.
- Because budget development is a real time process, the School Board did not receive Walt’s budget proposal until the beginning of the meeting. This resulted in some awkwardness. Walt’s proposed a 1.6 percent COLA for school division employees, however, with the exception of Don Richardson (who said he was satisfied with Walt’s proposal), the School Board generally wanted the full 2 percent increase they asked BOCS to give them. However, each board member asked the others to suggest where else the budget might be cut. Only Grant Lattin made anything approaching specific suggestions. This issue was ultimately handed over to Superintendent Walts who came prepared.
- Denita Ramirez focused on how upset she is with the BOCS. She stated she is in the business for the students and the teachers (Has she forgotten about the people who pay the bill?). Nonetheless, Lucy Beauchamp liked her speech. Beauchamp comments included a statement that this year’s budget stinks.
- Lucy Beauchamp thanked School Board members for their support. Then she proceeded to elaborate upon the affects of the budget cuts. In particular, she emphasized that the school’s central administration is 1/3 below average, and she noted how hard the School Board has worked on the budget. Beauchamp compared PWC School salary increases with other school divisions and note that PWC is the lowest.
- Richardson noted that the PWC salary number is relatively hard number. The FY 2008 numbers from other regional school divisions are speculative.
- Betty Covington defended full-day kindergarten. Richardson made the point he supports it too.
- Milt Johns noted that he is tired of BOCS members referring to “administrative bloat” in the school budget. He said that the national average per pupil cost of School Board and Central Office administration $500 per year. The per pupil per year cost for the PWC School Division is $394. Author’s note: These numbers are interesting, but they only begin to tell a story, and I suppose these numbers result from PWC School’s site-based management program. Does that suggest we are comparing apples and oranges? I honestly do not know, but I do know PWC Schools has no shortage of administrative personnel. The FY 2008 Budget lists the number of personnel. Only about half are teachers. More to come on this in another post.
- Walts came prepared to institute the cuts needed to reinstate the 2 percent COLA. Walts accepted the School Board’s direction. The Board went into closed session and considered Walts’ proposals. These are the cuts Walts came up with. The School Board approved the budget unanimously.
- Suspended an employee awards program. $ 30,000
- Delay INET program. $750,000
- Delay teacher development program. $150,000
- Delay purchase of five buses. $400,000
- Professional training. $250,000
- Area Associate Superintendent Program $150,000
- Human Resources $ 20,000
- Maintenance $250,000
- Beauchamp and Covington, in the interests of full disclosure, noted that they both have relatives employed by the School Division.
Author’s Comment: Obviously the School Board and Superintendent Walts think they have done a good job with the budget. Their effort to increase teacher pay is commendable. However, any notion that the public is not spending enough on the school division is also absurd. Just as the School Board is obligated to defend its requests for additional funding, the BOCS is obligated to say “enough already.” The fact that there has been some contention between the BOCS and the School Board is probably a good sign that both boards are doing their job.
UPDATE: Here is an article by William Rusher. Those who find the acrimony in politics disagreeable may find some solace in this article. When you read the article, please note that most of the infighting occurred between conservative Republicans on the BOCS and Democrats and a few moderately Republican members on the School Board.
Please note one other thing. The BOCS and the School Board represent different interests. The BOCS has a broader constituency. The School Board, on the other hand, has a more focused constituency. Since the broader constituency pays the bill, some conflict is inevitable.
