School Board approves amendments to current budget for 2023-24

At the Feb. 26 regular meeting of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, the board approved the 2023-24 budget amendment which turned out to be $6 million more than planned for.
Finance Director Priya Nayak said this is the first amendment since the budget was put together last spring and at that time it was a guess because the number of students for that fall’s classes weren’t known and the per-student state foundation allowance wasn’t finally determined, among other items.
The school district has a July 1-June 30 fiscal year and the state’s fiscal year begins in October and runs to the next September, making the finances a little confusing.
The original budget was based on a possible student count of 4,250 and it turned out to be 4,292.02, which was 42 more than was funded. The foundation allowance was set at $9,450 per student and turned out to be $9,608. Staffing increased from 522 to 540, she said.
Also, the federal ESSER funding grew from $3.5 million to $4.2 million. She explained other revenue changes in state grants and RESA programs that grew the original $66.5 million expected total revenue to $73,963,686, an increase of $6 million.
Expenses went from the original $69.5 million to a final total of $77,139,343, among the expenses, athletics went from $881,951 to $992,163.
Board president Amy Pearce pointed out that spending more than the money taken in wasn’t the reality, although it looked that way, and some of the funds were in different fiscal years.
Niyak said the original fund balance expected to be available on June 30, 2024, was $6.6 million, which was 9.58% of the budget. The amended fund balance now is $9,461,672, which is 12.26% of the budget. She said they like to have the fund balance near 15% so there won’t have to be any borrowing.
Niyak said now she is working on the new budget which will be presented to the board in June.
In other business at Monday’s one-hour-and-seven-minute meeting, the board:
• Voted to approve the candidacy of incumbent Birgit McQuiston for the open seat to represent Region 8 on the Michigan Association of School Boards Board of Directors;
• Heard Director of Instruction Jeff Moore give the required, mid-year Extended Learning Goal report, a part of the Extended COVID-19 Learning Plan. To measure the progress made by students, the district is now using iReady, a K-8 benchmark to see if students in math and reading are on target to meet a year’s worth of growth. He said last year their scores were in the upper-40s midyear and this year they are in the mid-50s. He said the reports are posted on the district web site;
• Approved the resignation of teacher Mary Ellen Vago of Rawsonville Elementary School, after 25 years of service, as of June 30; and the resignation of teacher Matthew deHaan of Belleville High School after 13 years of service as of Feb. 24;
• Approved the hiring of Sara Guajardo as a first-grade teacher at Edgemont Elementary School as of Feb. 26 and Marisa Kolomitz as a social worker at Edgemont as of Feb. 28;
• Approved the resignation of Spencer McCourt as a non-instructional employee at Belleville High School after less than a year of service as of Feb. 10;
• Approved the hiring of paraprofessionals Shirley Dushane at Edgemont Elementary School as of Feb. 20, Dianna Delucca at Rawsonville Elementary as of Feb. 26, LaLanea Duryea at Edgemont as of Feb. 15, Amoria Tolbert at Rawsonville as of Feb. 15, and Madison Abel at McBride Middle School as of Feb. 15;
• Heard parent Racqel Bean again speak on the sex education program, which she said needs to be abstinence only for those under the age of 16, the legal age of consent. She said only HIV and other sexual diseases are required to be taught, as far as sex education. She said the district’s Sex Education Advisory Board does not have the required members, with half of the ten supposed to be parents with students in the district. She said there are only two parents on the board, one employed by the district and one with no student in the district. She referred to a letter she got from the district and said she agrees she had inappropriate language at the last meeting, but accusing her of having a “threatening manner” is vague. “Why can’t I talk to teachers? This is very uncomfortable for me,” she said;
• Heard school district resident O’Shei Robinson explain the state program to help students injured by COVID. He offered to tutor students in math and he was told the district would get in contact with him;
• Heard Human Resources Director John Leroy say negotiations start this week with the VBEST union and the negotiated calendar will be ready in the next couple of weeks. School Supt. Pete Kudlak said the first day of school has been determined as Sept. 3, the day after Labor Day;
• Heard Special Education Director Julien Frazier say this is the last week of the Hygiene Kit Drive that is sponsored by the Belleville Rotary Club. The buckets at the library, where items are collected, have been filled and more buckets put out. These kits are to give to less privileged and families deemed homeless, he said;
• Heard BHS senior Natalya Payne report she just got back from the Michigan Association of Student Councils and Honor Societies conference. She said this year, 27 students from BHS attended, plus six advisors. Students from the class of 2025 did presentations in two showcases yesterday. Board president Pearce said students had to fundraise the $300 apiece it took to go on the trip and she had them come out to the University of Michigan and work concessions to earn the money. She said she had 15 students and they were hard workers;
• Heard Supt. Kudlak praise the work of Margo Delibera who was chairperson of this year’s Van Buren Education Foundation fundraising event at the Belleville Yacht Club on Feb. 24. More people attended than ever before and more funds were raised than ever before, he said. He also said the BYC donated the food and the space and the group’s generosity amazes him;
• Learned a committee from the district, along with Belleville Area District Library Director Mary Jo Suchy, are visiting other school libraries to make a recommendation on how the BHS library, now closed, should be used. Students will be brought in as well to give ideas on how to use the space differently and purposefully, Supt. Kudlak said; and
• Heard Pearce remind everyone that the annual Jazz Band Spaghetti Dinner is 5-8 p.m. on March 2 at $12 per plate. She said students from the William D. Ford culinary arts classes will help with preparation of the meals. Also, she said, the Robotics competition at the high school is the following week and on March 12, all the BHS bands will perform in a preview concert starting at 7 p.m. at the BHS auditorium. This is instead of the annual concert at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, which could not be scheduled this year.