Budgeting For Results Committee - March 09, 2009

[Guest sullinss]

School District No. 2, Yellowstone County

High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County

Billings, Montana

March 09, 2009

Call to Order

 

The Budgeting For Results Committee of School District No. 2, Yellowstone County and High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County, Montana met at Lincoln Center, 415 North 30th Street, Billings, Montana, on Monday, March 09, 2009. Chair Malcolm Goodrich called the meeting to order at 5:15 p.m. and led those assembled in the Pledge of Allegiance. Committee members present were: Joel Guthals, Mary Jo Fox, Paige Darden, Rod Gottula, Jane McCracken, Shanna Henry, Joan Sleeth, Malcolm Goodrich, and Bruce McIntyre. Members Ross Johnson, Don Stanaway, Kelly Donovan, Peter Grass, and Deana Elder were absent. Also present were Executive Director of Special Education David Munson, Executive Director of Activities Dave Williams, and Trustee Sandra Mossman.

 

Communication From the Public

 

No one wished to address the Committee at this time.

 

Consent Agenda

 

Joel Guthals moved to recommend Board approval of the consent Agenda items as follows:

1. Minutes of February 09, 2009

2. Minutes of February 23, 2009

3. Addition of Touchdown Club Trust Fund Account at Senior High

4. Addition or Rad Grad ECA Fund Account at Senior High

Bruce McIntyre seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

 

Bills Paid – February, 2009

 

Joel Guthals moved to recommend Board approval of the bills paid for February, 2009. Bruce McIntyre seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

 

Financial Reports – February, 2009 (Unaudited)

 

The Committee reviewed the financial reports for February, 2009.

 

Program/Budget Review

 

Activities:

 

Dave Williams, Executive Director of Activities, presented information on high school and middle school activities. FY2007/08 there were 3,435 students participating in high school activities that the District has a paid sponsor for. Many activities do not have participation fees and are not tracked, i.e., fly fishing clubs, chess clubs, etc. There were 2,563 students participating in middle school activities. These numbers reflect students involved in multiple activities. Dave estimates students participate in an average of 1.6 activities.

 

Mary Jo Fox arrived at 5:18 p.m.

 

Dave said high school transportation expenses for activities FY2007/08 was $416,889 (comprised of bus/van, lodging, substitutes, coaches’ meals and registration fees, etc.). This is General Fund money since the State does not allow us to use transportation funds for extracurricular transportation. Students pay a $50 participation fee per activity. This fee is deposited in the Activities Office to help pay for uniforms, officials fees, and some equipment for specific activities. All other expenses are borne by the students. We have a 5-year rotation on uniforms. Most activities purchase their own uniforms via the parents or fundraisers. The Wendy’s Scholarship Fund covered about $10,000 worth of claims last year. Fundraising to subsidize activities is almost double the amount of the General Fund allocation. This enables every student who wants to be part of an activity to participate if their finances are limited.

 

Malcolm asked if all of the activity expense could be financed through private funds. Dave said this has not worked in other communities. It tends to promote private club teams; and, our community believes it’s important for all students to be involved. The uncertainty of yearly fundraising makes it difficult to know if a program will be continued the following year and hampers hiring of coaches and outside people to run the activities. An activity can be cut, but we prefer to cut back in the days involved rather than the entire program.

 

Paige Darden arrived at 5:47 p.m.

 

Since yearly private fundraising is double that of the General Fund allocation, Rod asked if that meant the District was profiting from Activities. Dave responded we’re paying for what people think is the standard for activities; but, most of it goes to pay for student’s food, uniforms, a pole-vault pit, or whatever it is raised for. Joel asked if high school activities were eliminated would the District save the $1.2M in General Fund costs. Dave responded that we would; that the public contributions of $2M are separate funds. Dave monitors expenditures of privately raised funds for equity between programs and schools. Gate receipts go into the activities fund; they do not offset the General Fund. This money goes back into equipment, refinishing gyms, buying new footballs, and other extras. Dave will provide information on gate receipts in next month’s agenda packet. We could operate on the $1.2M General Fund money, but there would be no extras.

 

Malcolm asked if we could reduce the number of stipends since they incur about half of the District’s cost. Dave answered we could, but our current number is recommended on the basis of analysis done by the National Federation of High Schools’ ratio of students to coaches for liability issues. A sport like football needs close supervision for safety reasons, along with scheduling travel requirements.

 

Jane questioned why we are doing building and facility repair out of Activity funds rather than Building Reserve or another fund. Dave responded it was out of necessity since the priority for General Fund maintenance is going to classrooms rather than gyms. Mill levies and bond issues are not very successful; and Dave was relegated to go out and raise money for those types of things. These types of repairs have not been budgeted items for several years. Jane would like Thomas to address this question. Dave’s fundraising has been very successful and he has just worked out the means to put in a tennis court at Skyview. They try to accomplish completing one major project from fundraising each year. Every adult that attends an event at Wendy’s Field is taxed $1, and it is deposited into a maintenance fund for that field. Activity tickets are $20 of which $15 goes to the school and $5 goes to an ECA fund to be used as a scholarship for underprivileged students.

 

Rod asked if we were receiving adequate rent for our facilities for use by non-school groups. Dave answered we have a policy that determines rates for different venues. They are not market value rates but they cover the cost of usage; however, a lot of parents and taxpayers don’t believe we should charge at all. Rental funds are deposited into a separate account and used for special needs. Joel stated that a committee reviewed the rates a couple years ago, and we need to maintain a careful balance to not discourage public use of our facilities. Dave advised we receive a lot of in-kind service from all over the City. An example is Skyview was given the scoreboards that the Metra previously used.

 

Shanna asked what was included in the High School rental expenditures. Dave explained they rent equipment such as port-a-potties, shot-put ring, bobcat, lighting, vehicles, etc. Shanna asked if new Senior High bleachers were included in the Stimulus Program wish-list. Dave advised the Stimulus Package prohibits purchasing anything for a stadium or athletic venue.

 

Dave reviewed the positive aspects of students being involved in activities as an extension of a good educational program and as probably one of the best drop-out prevention programs we have in our District. On the average, students involved in activities miss less days of schools than other students. Dave is very cognizant of budgets and frugal spending practices.

 

Rod asked how many activities don’t receive stipends. Dave said there are many clubs and activities that arise out of the interest of the teacher, etc. that do not receive stipends. They review stipends annually for any adjustments.

 

Malcolm asked about the benefits of Middle Schools activities. Dave believes it is more important to middle school students than high school students to be a part of activities because of where they are in their stage of life.

 

Dave creates a book of Guidelines for High School and Middle School Activities that contains all rules and regulations they try to enforce with coaches and students. He will provide a copy to all Committee members. Rod requested when the budget report is published that information on the cost of activities be included.

 

Special Education:

 

David Munson, Executive Director of Special Education, presented information on District services regarding Individuals Disability Education Act (IDEA) and Part B (funding source from the Federal Government). Our District serves approximately 10% of the student population in the State. Because of the reputation of the services we offer in our District, we tend to draw families with students who have multiple and severe disabilities. Categories of disabilities are mandated by Federal law. Our December, 2008 count shows a total of 1697 students with disabilities. We have 60 students with autism (an increase of 16 from the previous year), and Dave predicts this trend will continue. A student with autism can cost the District as much as $40K per year depending on the severity of the case. Numbers of students in the categories of Learning Disabilities and Speech & Language Impairment have decreased due to early intervention efforts over the past four years to serve these kids in a general classroom without special education. Federal law mandates the State to provide for students with disabilities; and, as a subcontractor for the State we agree to provide those services and are monitored closely by the State. The law mandates that a free, appropriate, public education be provided for students in the least restrictive environment. The Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is an agreement required by Federal law to serve those students’ special needs. Approximately 14% of the population of school age children nation-wide have disabilities; that figure in Montana is about 13%; and, Billings is 10.96%.

 

We have several sources of funding for Special Education. Total FY2008-09 funding of $16,017,722 (a 2.4% increase from prior year) is as follows:

 

$4,410,186 Elem General Fund - Local $3,379,384 Elem General Fund - State

$2,060,820 Sec General Fund - Local $1,556,593 Sec General Fund - State

$3,746,331 IDEA – Federal $122,701 Pre-K – Federal

$45,307 Audio – Federal $110,789 Homebound – State

$322,976 Tuition – State $252,635 Medicaid – Federal

$10,000 Critical Needs - State

 

Federal funds cannot be used to reduce district expenditures. In order to demonstrate that Federal funds are not used to reduce district expenditures, the district is required to spend (Maintenance of Effort) at the same level from year to year unless they can justify the reduction. If you do not maintain effort it may cause a reduction in special education Federal funds dollar-for-dollar the following year. The government does this to prevent districts from spending less General Funds on special education students in tough economic times. We are required by Federal law to set aside about $250K this year for private schools, parochial schools, and the homeless to identify those with disabilities even though we don’t serve them.

 

Malcolm asked what the Special Education Dept. internal cost increases were. David said generally those cost increases are from negotiated agreements for staff and unknown autism related costs. Current average per student spending in Special Education is about $9,400.

 

David explained we agreed with the State that we will allow students to stay in school to age 21 if they have not met their IEP goals and they don’t graduate. We do not receive ANB for these students. Historically we have about 8 of these students per year; however, we currently have 15 students and possibly 21 next year. If we decide to change the age limit, it would take about four years to change the program narrative, policy, community and agency involvement, and grandfather-in our current students.

 

Paige asked if we have an increasing need for elementary classroom space for special education students. David stated in general the elementary requirement is decreasing based on the student count. Paige asked if there were accreditation levels for special education students per classroom. David responded there was not, only the need to be financially responsible and yet meet the students’ needs. Paige questioned transportation costs and busing of students. David said they try to minimize busing where possible; however, there are some specialized rooms at certain schools to serve specific needs that require busing those students.

 

Stimulus Package Information

 

This item was included in the packet for information only.

 

Status of 2009 Legislative Session Bills Affecting Schools

 

This item was included in the packet for information only.

 

General Comments/Announcements

 

Chair Goodrich stated the next Budgeting For Results meeting would address the K-6 Elementary District.

 

Adjournment

 

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:05 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

Malcolm Goodrich, Chair

 

 

 

 

Sherrill Sullins, Recorder