I would request if possible a detailed budget in a format easier to understand than we are normally given. I would like the budget broke down in each revenue and expense category, with the non discretionary spending separate from the discretionary spending. I would like a detailed explanation of where each category's funding comes from and how it's spent. I would like to see where we stand on our contingency budget, and how that fund has tracked over the last few years. I know there are other funds we have that are dedicated to certain reserve accounts that are hard to spend, I would like details of these funds, and how the funding works in and out of these type of accounts. How are unspent accounts or overspent accounts tracked. Without further cut backs how soon will we be below the minimum contingency fund recommended by the state? With current information available how much less funding can we anticipate next year? With the online class requirements coming how are we planning on managing that? What classes do we anticipate offering, and how will that effect our current teachers? Without stating specific positions or teachers how many teachers and aides do we anticipate needing to RIF at the end of this school year? I think this type of information is important so we can plan way ahead how this is going to be done. If we must RIF teachers, they need to know as soon as possible, so they can look for other employment. Last year, because of the failed levy, and slow information coming from the state, these decisions came very late and caused a lot of stress on our teachers. If the RIFing of teachers looks like it will be too extreme, and will hurt the students education, or we might have to cut programs, this is the type of information the community deserves to know, so the patrons can help decide if we need to have a levy, and for how much.
We have cut funding for text books, computers, class supplies, buses, and many other items. We have limited funding for repairs and replacement of all but the very necessary building needs. We have cut teachers coaching stipends to where they do a lot for free just to keep them going. We have very few school clubs, because in order to have them we have to have a teacher volunteer their time to run them. How long can we expect the teachers to keep volunteering time away from their families to run the school programs. Some put in hundreds of extra hours of volunteer time because they really care about the kids and want to provide these types of opportunities for them. We are charging the athletic teams and clubs probably about as much money as possible. If we charged more we would probably loose participation to the point it would be hard to maintain the programs we have. A recent survey indicated there are kids now that would like to participate but are unable to because of the cost. This year we had to quit paying for the hotel rooms when they travel to any state competition. At what point are we going to be able to replace the high school bleachers. They are used for many activities, and to me look very unsafe. Are we going to act after someone gets badly hurt falling through them, I hope that doesn't happen. But the cost for new bleachers is tremendous on a tight budget, I believe over a $100,000. What do we cut to be able to fund them? We just can't continue making cuts in things like text books and computers. The quality of education we can provide the students will drop, and the cost of catching up to where we need to be will keep going higher and higher.
So where do we go from here? I get budget information from the school, but as I said before, it is hard to understand how everything gets funded. So much of the budget is dedicated funds that we have hardly any control over. We went over this a lot when we had the levy discussion, but not detailed and as easy to understand as I would like.
I would like to have a committee learn about the budget in a lot more detail. Once the committee has a good understanding of the budget, and asses the needs, they can help find the best solutions. The community has proven to be willing to step up and help with fundraisers whenever they have been asked. Why not ask for help to solve the big issues we face? I think we still need to have a levy sometime soon. I don't look forward to asking for a third time for some hard earned money from the patrons, and don't want to ask for money until we thoroughly study other ways to raise money. For example, there has been talk about asking for grants. I have no knowledge of how this is done, but maybe someone in the district is good at it. Would there be support for raising money in a creative way for computers or text books? Would someone be willing to help fund some type of scholarship for kids to use so they can participate in sports or other activities? Theses are just a few ideas, I am sure there are many more out there if we just ask the right way, and they know we will listen to them. In some areas like when talking about future lay offs the committee can have little input, because it becomes a school board and administration issue. But they should understand how these lay offs can effect the students and possibly the programs.
The current structure of the budget committee does very few of the things I just talked about. The full board does not have the time to review in this much detail the things I suggest. The more patrons understand about all of this, the more support we will have as a board to go forward and implement whatever course of action we need to provide better funding and learning opportunities for the kids.
I kind of rambled on about all this, and I am not a very good writer, but I hope I can get people thinking, and developing their own ideas to better our schools. Thank you, and please let me know your ideas, I would be glad to hear them. Brian
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