Business Committee - Oct. 10, 2005

[Guest sullinss]

Proceedings of the Business Committee

School District No. 2, Yellowstone County

High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County

Billings, Montana

 

October 10, 2005

 

Call to Order

 

The Business Committee Meeting of School District No. 2, Yellowstone County and High School Disrict No. 2, Yellowstone County, Montana was held at Lincoln Center, 415 North 30th Street, Billings, Montana, on Monday, October 10, 2005. Chair K. Dale Getz called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m. and led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance. Committee members present were Jerry Hansen, K. Dale Getz, Joan Sleeth, Joel Guthals, Shanna Henry, Peter Grass, and Katharin Kelker. Committee members absent were Randy Durr, Kari Altenburg, and Curt Prchal. Also in attendance were Business Manager Thomas Harper, Dan Martin, Dave Williams, Rich Whitney, Leo Hudetz, Bob Whalen, Jerry Kessler, Pam Johnson, and Jane Manley.

 

Consent Agenda

 

Jerry Hansen moved to recommend Board approval of Consent Agenda items as follows:

1. Resolution – Intent to Dispose of District Real Property

2. Addition of Ponderosa 6th Grade ECA Account

3. Addition of Culinary Arts ECA Account at Career Center

4. Addition of D. B. Sturtevant Memorial Scholarship Trust Account at West High

5. Business Committee Minutes of September 12, 2005

6. Business Committee Minutes of October 04, 2005

Katharin Kelker seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

 

Assessment Specialist

 

At the September Board meeting information concerning the assessment position was requested. The Board referred it to the Business Committee. Last year this position was contracted at $40/hour, not to exceed 550 hours, to be paid from general funds. No benefits are paid on this position. This position is responsible for coordinating the distribution and collection of materials mandated by the State and federal government for testing in grades K-12, developing schedules, and interpreting data. The State does not provide funding; therefore, the District has budgeted for this position.

 

It was questioned if there was a less expensive way to accomplish this task, or if someone at Lincoln Center could absorb it. Dan Martin explained there was no one able to absorb these duties at Lincoln; and, this position requires a certain level of expertise.

 

Counselors Jerry Kessler and Pam Johnson of Senior High and Jane Manley of Skyview addressed the Committee with their concerns that: 1) testing requirements require an enormous amount of their time which takes a lot of time away from their regular duties and students and requires a lot of hours they are not compensated for; 2) Lincoln Center hired extra staff to handle their portion of the work and the schools did not get extra help; and, 3) if an assessment specialist is not hired, the schools cannot absorb the extra work.

 

The Business Committee expressed appreciation to the Counselors for their dedication. Since next year will bring added testing requirements, Dan Martin was asked to pursue and cost out options on items expressed by the Counselors.

 

Skyview Water Side Economizer

 

Rich Whitney explained this would be a new piece of equipment attached to the HVAC at Skyview. It’s used when the temperature drops below 40 degrees, and it reduces the runtime on the chiller by an estimated 40%. It should pay for itself in about four winters. If this is approved this month, it may be operational by March or April.

 

Katharin Kelker introduced a motion to recommend Board approval to complete the Skyview Water Side Economizer project at an estimated cost of $100,000. Joel Guthals seconded the motion. Discussion was held on the funding source. Dan Martin cautioned about getting into a pattern of using all of the Building Reserve Fund. Thomas Harper advised we have about $200K left in the Building Reserve Fund.

 

Voting for the motion was Dale Getz, Joan Sleeth, Joel Guthals, Shanna Henry, Peter Grass, and Katharin Kelker. Voting against the motion was Jerry Hansen. The motion carried.

 

Additional FTE for Emergency Response Management Grant Coordinator

 

A federal grant has been received for the Emergency Response Management Program. A request for two temporary 18-month positions has been received for this grant: one .313 FTE Administrator (3 hrs/day), and one .313 Secretary II (2.5 hrs/day). The estimated $34,800 will be funded by the grant.

 

Katharin Kelker moved to recommend the Board lift the moratorium on hiring for these two positions, as presented, for the term of the grant. Joel Guthals seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

 

Request for Change of Stipend-H.S. Swim Coach

 

Dave Williams explained over the past month we have had two swim coaches resign. They wish to combine three swim programs under one head coach. The stipend would be increased and the fund savings would be used to hire 2-3 assistant coaches to help manage the program. Dave is coordinating this with the BEA to cover this need for one year.

 

Katharin Kelker moved to recommend the Board approve the change of stipend to cover one Head Coach for all three swim teams for all three high schools. Peter Grass seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

 

MT Schools E-Learning Consortium Participation Request

 

We are being asked to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for students that live in our district, but attend private schools or are home schooled and receive offsite instruction offered by MSELC. They will waive the fees for the first semester if we agree to join for the second semester after January 1, 2006. Woody Jensen explained that sources of Adult Education funding could be used for startup costs to bring in the home school population. At a point when services generate ANB, one year later, the funding can be switched to the District’s General Fund.

 

Joel Guthals moved to recommend Board approval to participate in the MT Schools E-Learning Consortium. Jerry Hansen seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

 

Health Insurance Financial Statements – July, 2005

 

Committee members reviewed this report.

 

Bills Paid – September, 2005 (summary sheet)

 

Joel said descriptions were missing from some bills paid and asked if they could be added to the report. It was reported that our purchasing agent negotiates special contracts with vendors and goes through a bidding process to ensure our District is securing the best prices for our purchases.

 

Financial Reports – September, 2005 (Unaudited)

 

Committee members have reviewed the financials.

 

 

Federal Programs Budgets

 

Dan Martin reviewed the various Federal Program parameters. The purpose of this presentation is to inform the Business Committee of the current grant fund expenses that will need to be moved to the General Fund in the FY07 budget. We need to plan on $200K in General Fund for expenses that the Part B fund will no longer accommodate. This is a result of overspending the Part B fund for about four years by spending down the carryover to save jobs. Part B expenses are Special Education expenses which are not optional. Three reading teachers funded by Title Programs II and V will have to be put into the General Fund next year along with the textbook requirements for about $150K. When budgets are planned for year 2007, we need to plan for an additional $350K minimum in the General Fund budgets to cover these expenditures.

 

Our revenue projection for MAC money is $607K this year which, in turn, establishes our expenditures. This money is generated from “random moment” surveys done by a selected group of District individuals on time spent on specific events. $340K of our MEDICAID FY2005-06 budget went for expenditures for employees, Alkali Creek supply costs, and Read 180 because there was no money in the General Fund to cover it.

 

Budget Utility Update

 

Rich Whitney gave an update on the potential cost of utilities as follows:

 

Budget 2005-06 Proposed Budget Gas/Elec +35% Water +10% Budget Surplus/Deficit

Elementary:

Gas $620,000 $837,000 ($217,000)

Elec. $645,965 $881,697 ($235,732)

Water $116,636 $128,300 ($11,664)

Secondary:

Gas $405,000 $554,845 ($149,845)

Elec. $520,000 $751,363 ($231,363)

Water $71,521 $78,673 ($7,152)

Grand Total: ($852,756)

 

We may be affected by a volume increase as well as a price increase. We have interruptible gas for Skyview, West, Senior, Lewis & Clark, Will James, and Riverside which is increasing also, but Rich did lock in at a price before Hurricane Katrina affected market prices. On a dollar/sq. ft. our utility costs are considerably less than other school districts in the State due to lighting retrofits, employee conservation, backup fuel system at Lincoln, etc.

 

Joel Guthals and Rich Whitney are organizing a subcommittee together with a mechanical engineer and an electrical engineer to investigate potential areas for cost savings in utilities.

 

Building Reserve Projects Update

 

Rich Whitney reviewed this summer’s Building Reserve project list and reported they were all successful. Next month Rich will bring a list of recommended projects for next summer pending approval for the remainder of the funding out of the year 2005 from the Building Reserves. Rich Whitney was commended for the good work that’s been completed on all of these projects.

 

Possible Scenarios to Address High School Renovation & Capacity

 

Four scenarios were presented to the Committee formulated from all the information available which might address High School renovation and capacity. The Committee was asked to decide if there were any scenarios they did not want costed out. The final scenarios will be presented for public input. All of the scenarios would require a bond issue. The scenarios are as follows:

 

1. Develop the Career Center site to include both a comprehensive high school and the Career Center program.

2. The elementary district may deed one of the middle schools to the high school district to be used as a comprehensive high school, and build a new middle school to replace the vacated middle school.

3. Renovate existing facilities and add to each of the existing high schools as needed to allow the operation of freshman and sophomore academies on each high school site.

4. Add a high school with a 600-1,000 student capacity in the southern corridor of the city to accommodate current overflow.

 

Dale does not wish to cost out #4 or #1; he believes it’s more logical to renovate and upgrade what we have. Jerry agrees we need to renovate and repair and not build new; he believes the high schools are full but not overcrowded. Shanna believes all the ideas are valid, and we should cost out all of them for the public. Dan said plans #1 and #3 are not new; comprehensive plans are still on file for plan #3 and could be updated. There is also a detailed plan for #4 that could be updated. Peter said you can cost out #4, but there’s no way we could do it without renovation of the other high schools. Rich said there may be a lot of value at looking at a phase-in plan and delivering those high payback facility renovations first. We could do a two-phase plan with the phase #1 for lights, temperature (warm, safe, dry, etc.) and deliver that within a framework; and, once we’ve reached a minimal standard for all of our students, then go to a phase #2. We have to take care of what we own. We can encourage a sharing of those old plans with whoever will be costing out the new scenarios. Katharin recused herself from voting.

 

Several members believe we should get out the old plans, update them and cost them out. Rich said we need to have a list of things that we want to talk about, and the scope of work once the Board selects the design firms. For the scope of work discussion we would say we want to know what it’s going to take to look through the Senior/West proposals and provide this type of scenario. They could provide us a shopping list of items and the Board could make their final selection based on priorities and resources available. We need to have a task list to work from, but the Board doesn’t need to make that decision until they have the costs in front of them.

 

Temporary FTE – Para-Professional under Title III

 

This position is a temporary replacement for a person that provides the assessment function of identifying “limited English Proficient” students under the Title III grant.

 

Katharin Kelker moved to recommend the Board approve the temporary hire of 1.0 FTE (7.5 hrs/day) Para-Professional for a maximum of 40 days with all salary and benefits and travel expenses covered by the Title III grant. Shanna Henry seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

 

Military Leave

 

A teacher who was paid 15 days of military leave in each of the 2003, 2004, and 2005 calendar years has requested to use her fifteen days she would receive in calendar year 2006, in October 2005. Her assignment that she normally goes to in January has been changed to October 2005.

 

Dan said a pitfall might be if this person left, the District would be 15 days short, and it has not been determined to be critical for the war effort. She has an opportunity to do another training session, and Dan is not sure she has orders to go.

 

Katharin Kelker moved to recommend the Board deny request for paid leave on the basis that there are not orders; but, if it turns out that there are orders, we will reconsider. Joel seconded the motion. The motion was clarified to show intention of transferring days.

 

Thomas Harper said even if this person has orders, she can always leave on an unpaid basis. You’re making a decision that says the District will pay salary at the same time they will draw military salary. They entered into a contract with two organizations at the same time. The first 15 days is fine, but the second one is her choice. Dan said this person has 12 discretionary days to use also. Jerry said the law pertains to calendar year and the school operates on a fiscal year; and, as long as it doesn’t exceed once per fiscal year, he sees no problem with it. The question was called. Voting in favor of the motion were Katharin Kelker, K. Dale Getz, Joel Guthals, Peter Grass, Joan Sleeth, and Shanna Henry. Voting against the motion was Jerry Hansen. The motion carried.

 

Review of New Grants

 

The following grants were reviewed by COLT and presented to the Business Committee for their information: Indian Education for All Montana Read-to-Go Grants, Speech Aide Training, and Peer Mediation Program.

 

MQEC Update

 

An informational update was provided for Committee members on the Montana Quality Education Coalition’s proposal to improve Montana’s system of funding public education.

 

Jerry Hansen moved that the documents in this item of the agenda be expunged from the record and in the future no documents will be accepted with gratuitous and inappropriate comments. Jerry wishes to read and interpret information without someone else’s opinion written on them. This motion died for lack of a second.

 

Budget Formation Process

 

Thomas announced a Board Retreat has been scheduled for October 28, 2005 at the DBC Mary Alice Fortin Center from 9a – 5p with the Public Strategies Group to discuss ways that PSG can support the Billings Public Schools budget redesign.

 

Adjournment

 

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

 

 

 

 

K. Dale Getz, Chair

 

 

 

 

Sherrill Sullins, Recorder