Guest sullinss Posted February 11, 2010 Report Share Posted February 11, 2010 Proceedings of the Board of Trustees District No. 2, Yellowstone County High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County Billings, Montana January 25, 2010 Call to Order The Special Board Meeting of the Board of Trustees of School District No. 2, Yellowstone County, Montana, and the High School District, Yellowstone County, Montana was duly held at the Lincoln Center, 415 North 30th Street, Billings, Montana on Monday, January 25, 2010. Chair Malcolm Goodrich called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. and led those assembled in the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call Trustees present were: Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, Barbara Bryan, Teresa Stroebe, Mary Jo Fox, Kathy Aragon, and Peter Gesuale. Trustee Joyce Weber was absent. Budgeting For Results Committee Members present were: Rod Gottula, Joan Sleeth, Bruce MacIntyre, Peter Grass, Sandie Mammenga, Deana Elder, Paige Darden, and Kelly Donovan. Also present were: Dan Martin, Leo Hudetz, Gail Surwill, Kathy Olson, Thomas Harper, Dave Williams, Karen Palmer, Jack Copps, Scott Anderson, Rich Whitney, and David Munson. Registered guests were: Barb Buss, Dennis Stellingwerf, Sandy Weiss, Bob Chatriand of MPEA, Mary Lave, LaVonna Robinson, Lisa Scott, Luzelle Russell, and Kevin Nelson. Communication from the Public Kevin Nelson addressed the Board on Senate Joint Resolution 31 regarding fiscal yr 2008 property taxes on Tax Increment Finance Districts (TIF’s). Mr. Nelson urged the School Board to become more involved in TIF’s. Mr. Nelson explained that taxable value for the school district is reduced within TIF boundaries; therefore, more mills are necessary to produce the same level of revenue for the school district. This raises taxes and you may have more people refusing to support mill levies due to this. Sandi Weiss addressed the Board. Ms. Weiss asked if the administration budget of 1% of the whole budget includes all administration in the District or just the main administrative office? Ms. Weiss asked if principals could be shared between schools. We are in tough times and teachers need to step up to plate; the union should address teachers about a pay freeze. The teachers’ 3% increase is actually higher with steps and lanes. The graduation rate seems to be going down – currently at 83% resulting in a funding loss. We seem to be failing some children. Cluster schools are not the answer to our budget problem; it creates obstacles for kids and damages neighborhoods. Mary Lave addressed the Board to request the union reopen the educators’ labor contract. Most teachers are fantastic and deserve to express their views on the budget. Times are different now from when their contract was signed. Cluster schools would be disastrous for our educators. Waiting for a questionable mill levy decision by the public in May to decide whether to allow our educators to have their say is not very proactive or financially responsible to handle such a large and serious issue. Lavonna Robinson addressed the Board asking about the number of grants and grant money being sought after. She has previously asked for this and has not received an answer. She asked that every part of the budget be reviewed including all salaries, programs, positions, policies and agreements. Ms. Robinson would rather preserve jobs and quality of education than put people out of work. Why won’t trustees and the union agree to reduce raises? Clustering schools is not an option. Decision on One-Time Money Chair Goodrich said there is a concern about using ARRA and one-time money in the next fiscal year to minimize the deficit. A Board decision is necessary if we are going to use one-time money; and, if so, are we going to use all of it? Mary Jo Fox wishes to be conservative with one-time money so as not to mislead the community into thinking it will be there in the future. Mary Jo Fox is open to using no more than one-half of the one-time money to avoid changing the dynamics of schools. Joel said the Elementary District has $1.37M and the High School District has $317,893 of one-time-only funds allocated for use. We can get permission to use these funds in 2011, but we don’t know if we can use them in 2012. This Committee has not recommended the sister/cluster concept to the Board for 2011. Lacking a decision on any big budget cuts, there is not enough money to balance the budget without using one-time-only funds. Joel Guthals wants to use all one-time money in 2011. Peter Gesuale said the one-time funds are federal funds directed to the State which, in turn displaced regular on-going funding. Assuming the State had continued their on-going funding of education in the same manner, we would have had these funds to spend. We’re treating one-time funds different than if we would have normally received them. We’re sending a message to the Legislature if we treat it as one-time money and hold it back for another year; they’ll take the message to mean that we didn’t need to be funded at that level in the first place. We need to look at a two-year budget picture. If we add the District’s projected budget shortfalls for 2011 and 2012, subtract one-time funding, and add in mill levy revenue if they pass, the budget is still short $2.5M. This figure includes budget assumptions of relying on the Legislature backfilling that money, a 3% increase from the State, insurance savings, and additional revenue for student count. Peter Gesuale said we need a bigger solution to our problem which includes successful mill levies, use of one-time money, success in the Legislature, wage concessions, and eliminating jobs. We need to make sure we don’t do anything to jeopardize the success of the mill levy such as adopt the sister/cluster schools concept; and, we need to open the lines of communication with the union. Barbara Bryan said the cuts we are talking about won’t balance the budget. Barbara Bryan can’t support a decision on sister/cluster schools in a crisis mode. We need to request opening union contracts. Barbara said we need to use one-time money to avoid crisis driven cuts in 2011, and we need to get our Strategic Planning completed. We have some serious negative financial trends in the District we need to address. Teresa Stroebe believes we need to use one-time money now. Teresa Stroebe is not in favor of cluster schools. Kathy Aragon is not in favor of sister/cluster schools. Kathy Aragon said we need to use one-time-only money now since we don’t know if we can use it in 2012. Kathy Aragon stressed the need to put in place the Strategic Planning process and create specific measurable outcomes and goals. Chair Goodrich asked if it was possible to use the one-time money in 2011 to prepay expenses for 2012. Thomas Harper said there are only certain items we can prepay in the current year for a future year. At the end of the year when we close books the auditors will say it’s a next year’s expense. Chair Goodrich understands the budget projection for 2012 was premised upon NO staff raises. Thomas Harper agreed; however, steps and lanes were added in. Chair Goodrich believes we need to use one-time money in FY2011, and make the deficit as small as we can in FY2012. Joel Guthals clarified that he voted in favor of sister/cluster schools based on information provided by Administration that there’s not a detrimental impact on education - in fact, there is a beneficial educational impact. There will be some detrimental impact on families with travel disruption. Joel Guthals said the sister/cluster school concept would not be of financial benefit if we provide non-mandatory busing. Joel is not in favor of providing busing to do it; he said the concept would be with minimum mandatory busing within 3 miles. Our School District must make significant substantial structural changes to get itself in financial shape for future years. Joel Guthals moved that the Board will utilize $317,893 of ARRA funds for the 2011 fiscal year high school budget. Teresa Stroebe seconded the motion. Voting for the motion were Kathy Aragon, Barbara Bryan, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, and Teresa Stroebe. Voting against the motion was Mary Jo Fox. The motion carried. Barbara Bryan moved that the Board will use $1,137,054 of ARRA funds for the 2011 fiscal year elementary school budget. Kathy Aragon seconded the motion. Voting for the motion were Kathy Aragon, Barbara Bryan, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich. High School Trustees Joel Guthals and Teresa Stroebe are ineligible to vote on this Elementary issue. Voting against the motion was Mary Jo Fox. The motion carried. Chair Goodrich clarified that the motion pertained to use of all of the one-time funds. Approval of Steering Committee Members for Strategic Planning The Ad Hoc Committee on Strategic Planning has made contact and proposed names for membership for their Steering Committee. In accordance with District Procedure 1130-P1 the Board Chair shall appoint committee members to the committees. Committee appointments are subject to Board ratification. Kathy Aragon moved to approve the following Steering committee Members for Strategic Planning: All Board Members Community Members: Steve Arveschoug Mark Astle Nichole Card Jim Duncan Mary Susan Fishbaugh Mary Hernandez Sharon Peterson Don Reed Trish Zowada Leo Barsanti Mary Lave Sandy Wong Scott McCullough Gail Surwill, SD2 Curriculum Director Dulce Whitford, SD2 Director of Indian Education Ex-Officio: Jack Copps , Superintendent Nancy Hines, Administrative Liaison COLT Team members as needed Joel Guthals seconded the motion. There may be additional names presented at subsequent Board meetings. The motion carried unanimously. Additional Duties for Ad Hoc Subcommittee for Superintendent Search The Board of Trustees has created a committee to work with MTSBA in the selection of a new superintendent. As part of this process candidates will be screened, and finalists will be selected by the full Board of Trustees. In order to provide public input on the finalists, it is hoped there will be a period of feedback to the Board before the superintendent is selected. The committee would meet during the time after the finalists are selected and before the Board makes its final decision on who will be selected as the candidate to receive the offer for our next Superintendent. Joel Guthals moved to add those duties to the Ad Hoc Subcommittee for Superintendent Search to hold a subcommittee meeting to take comments from stakeholders in the District and the public with respect to the finalists for the superintendent’s position. Peter Gesuale seconded the motion. Joel Guthals said the meeting to take comments will be an advertised public meeting. All of the presentations by the candidates and questions of the candidates will be in a public meeting as well as the Board decision on the position. Voting for the motion were Kathy Aragon, Barbara Bryan, Peter Gesuale, Malcolm Goodrich, Joel Guthals, Teresa Stroebe, and Mary Jo Fox. The motion carried unanimously. Adjournment There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 6:10p.m. Malcolm Goodrich, Chair Sherrill Sullins, Recorder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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