The Salida R-32-J School District hosted a “State of the District” meeting Tuesday evening at John Held Auditorium where Superintendent John Rouse and School Board president Lezlie Burkley spoke about current and upcoming issues.
Before about 50 people in John Held Auditorium, Burkley recounted recent successes. Longfellow Elementary was named Distinguished School of the Year for closing an achievement gap between kids on the free lunch program and those who are not. The R-32-J District was one of thirteen districts in the state (of 178 total) to meet all established annual measurable objectives. And the School Board met many benchmarks of a prestigious All State School Board review, lacking only longevity.
District Prepares for Cuts
The failure of bond issues in November, the national economic outlook and expected cuts by Governor Ritter have the District planning defensively. “We’re fine financially, however, the nation is not… if things remain bleak then it does begin to impact us,” Rouse said. Areas of particular concern for spending include energy usage, food services, transportation, facility maintenance and athletics.
Asked about the District’s reserve fund, Rouse noted that $1.7 million, remained in the reserve. The District’s annual budget is about $8 million.
Supplementing a master plan being designed by the District, individual department heads have been asked to prepare three-year plans that include budgetary, staffing and equipment needs as well as cost-saving measures. “We weren’t elected to make easy decisions,” Burkley said, explaining that the District seeks to emphasize a proactive, thoughtful, inclusive decision-making process. Burkley quoted Eleanor Roosevelt, saying “it takes as much time to wish as it does to plan.”
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Lezlie Burkley discusses potential cuts and District decision-making. Download the mp3.
State of the Mill Levy Override
Last November, voters passed 3A, a mill levy override which increases pay for District employees by 15% over the next three years. Some funds from the mill levy override are earmarked for one time expenditures like supplies and materials for science, math, literacy and social studies programs. A portion of the funds was also used to reimburse the District for facility construction, Rouse said. A small amount has been set aside for professional development and will be used this year to send six or seven teachers to the National Title 1 Conference and to support Advanced Placement certification for teachers who will then be qualified to teach Advanced Placement classes.
At the same time that voters passed 3A in November, they declined to support the other ballot measures which would have provided money for transportation, technology or facilities. “The needs discussed during the election campaign remain,” Rouse said, and went on to recount that Salida High School and Longfellow continue to have facility needs, campuses still need infrastructure improvements and equipment upgrades and the bus fleet continues to age.
The School Board hasn’t decided whether to propose one or more ballot measures to voters in 2009. At least two major factors, Rouse said, will inform this decision: national and local economic conditions and state funding for BEST. Building Excellent Schools Today, or BEST, was established in 2007 by State Treasurer Carrie Kennedy and then-Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff to leverage profits from school trust lands in providing money for schools. BEST will focus on health and safety issues in its second cycle of grants this year. Should the District qualify, BEST would provide matching funds for a voter-approved bond issue, effectively doubling contributions from local taxpayers. The District will find out if it qualifies for a BEST matching grant later this year, according to Rouse.
Board member Robin NeJame noted that once the Board makes a decision to propose a bond issue, the matter goes to a campaign committee and Colorado law places restrictions on the kinds of dialog the District and representatives can engage in. “The conversation simply stops” she said. In order to maintain talks with the community and stakeholders, such a decision won’t be made until later in the year.
PILT Money Provides Needed Funds
In his last weeks as a Senator, Ken Salazar successfully concluded a deal where the federal government will fully fund programs which compensate western counties having public land not subject to property tax. The first, known as “payment in lieu of taxes”, or PILT, has been in place, but underfunded, for years. A second program, Secure Rural Schools, allows communities to share in the revenues from timber sales on public land. As a result of the actions by Salazar and Chaffee County Commissioners, the school district will receive about $1M over the next four years.
Priorities outlined by the school district last year included salaries, technology, transportation and facilities. The order of these priorities hasn’t changed, Burkley said, and the district expects to use the PILT windfall largely to address technology needs and the infrastructure required to support technology improvements.
Alternative Strategies
A number of potential strategies are being examined under the guise of saving money or improving services. Rather than evaluate students based on age or grade level, “standards-based” education would focus on the mastery of a subject, Burkley noted. The move to a four-day week might offer some cost savings, albeit closer to 3% than the more-intuitive 20%, Rouse said, largely because some expenses like salaries aren’t reduced. A switch to a year-round schedule might pay dividends for students who tend to forget things over the summer.
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Lezlie Burkley talks about options under discussion. Download the mp3.
The District is also looking at ways of taking better advantage of local resources. The Administration is in discussions with Colorado Mountain College regrading dual-credit classes which would be offered at Salida High School but allow students to earn college credit. In some cases, students could earn an Associate’s degree one year after graduating from Salida High School, Rouse said.
At the same time, the District is looking at options for new, alternative programs to help students with special needs. For example, the District is engaging in conversations with local private schools like Crest Academy and a Waldorf-inspired program. “Given that not all children learn in the same way, an effective school system provides accommodations for all types of learners,” Burkley said.
School Board Seats Open
Four of seven seats on the School Board will be up for re-election in the November and at least one of those members is term-limited and will not be running again, Burkley said. She encouraged potential candidates to get involved early.
Robin NeJame, one of the members whose term expires this fall, said that she has not made a decision about running again in part because serving on the Board prevents her from applying for a teaching position with the District.
“It’s a privilege to serve our community and to serve our children,” Burkley concluded.
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