The Oak Harbor School Board voted to approve extending the 2002-2003 budget to fund several projects with part of the $617,000 federal Impact Aid payment the district received at the end of July.
Schools Superintendent Rick Schulte proposed adding $100,000 to the textbook purchase account, in order to buy materials adopted by the school board for the science curriculum, and adding $50,000 to the maintenance budget. This would allow the district to complete several priority projects before school starts Sept. 4.
The science curriculum purchase includes science kits for kindergarten through fifth grade.
The priority maintenance project list is lengthy, with everything from $110 for blinds at Oak Harbor Middle School to $17,000 for building a new computer room at the high school, Schulte said at the Aug. 12 board meeting.
The computer room is being carved out of a corner of the library, but it probably won’t be completed by the start of school.
The complete list of maintenance projects is much longer, but Schulte said this is the list of things that can mostly be completed by the start of school.
Last Tuesday’s meeting was the next to the last public hearing for the 2003-2004 school budget. The board is expected to give final approval of the budget at its regular Aug. 25 meeting.
The biggest revenue change was the addition of anticipated Impact Aid revenues of $850,000, although Schulte said information from the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools suggests that increased revenue could range anywhere from $500,000 to $1.2 million.
“We selected the $850,000 figure after a telephone conference with NAFIS officials who recommended that this was safe amount as long as the district did not make binding commitments to spending all of these revenues since final information on appropriations levels will not be forthcoming until the end of September or the beginning of October,” Schulte said in the board bulletin.
Another change calls for increasing the Fund Balance by $645,000.
“This reflects both the new receipt of Impact Aid revenues and a predicted expenditure level equal to 98 percent of planned expenditures for the 2002 – 2003 school year,” Schulte said.
A vocational federal grant was discontinued, for a loss of $38,900, and athletic fees income equalling $11,800 were added.
List of expenditure additions include:
l School Resource Officer, $38,587
l Community Relations/Community Newsletter, $20,000
l Eight Full-time-equivalent certificated staff, $450,262
l Classified staff, $27,501
l Carryover capacity (building budgets and grants), $53,500
l Utilities, $60,000
l Strategic Plan, $150,000
l Clerical Support, $11,879
l Recycling Bins, $50,000
lBuilding and library budgets, $110,000.
Schulte said the money for building and library budgets restores cuts that were made two years ago. Building budgets are largely used for replacing student textbooks.
“The perceived lack of textbooks has been common concern of the school board’s,” Schulte said.
Because these expenditures don’t involve personnel costs, building and library budgets can be made contingent on actual Impact Aid revenues, he added.
Teacher pay
not included
Not included in the budget revisions was any mention of increased teacher compensation. Schulte said he did not include teacher compensation because the district is in negotiations with the teachers’ union, Oak Harbor Education Association, and doing so would “conflict with the collaborative, interest-based approach that is underway.”
The teachers’ association is asking for more compensation for time outside the classroom, called TRI days. While the district now funds eight supplemental days, the teachers’ association would like to see the district fund 18.
Association co-president Peter Szalai read a prepared statement from the association at the school board meeting.
“It is the association’s position that no teacher-on-special-assignment positions should be funded at this time, that certificated positions that do not significantly impact class size should remain unfilled, and that resulting and other funds be directed to enhancing supplemental pay for teachers,” Szalai read.
He also cited concerns about high health care costs for teachers and suggested the district create a fund to reimburse teachers for costs incurred in maintaining professional certification.
Szalai left the meeting shortly after reading his statement, thereby missing board member Kathy Jones’ comments addressed to him. She noted the district does fund continuing education through the Marguerite Walsh award. The board has also increased the “medical carve out,” from $25 to $30 next year, and $35 the year after that.
“He seems to have a short memory in that area,” she said. “I think as a board we have been very proactive in lobbying for adequate compensation.”
Contact Marcie Miller at mmiller@whidbeynewstimes.com.
