At Monday’s regular meeting, the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education approved a $51.4 million budget that has only $48.8 million in projected revenue.
The budget is $2.7 million short – a deficit budget, which is against state law that requires school districts to adopt a balanced budget by June 30.
Finance office consultant Michael Dixon said he would begin work the next day on the deficit reduction plan required by the state within 30 days of adopting a deficit budget.
The board has two years to eliminate the deficit. Dixon said the state will have quite of few deficit budgets to deal with this year.
Dixon said, hopefully, this fall more students will show up, increasing the per pupil funds from the state and reducing the deficit.
He said the retirement costs continue to increase and there are always the pay steps through the teachers’ union that increase the expenditures.
“We continue to move forward with less resources,” Dixon said. “There are significant challenges as we attempt to move forward.”
As a part of the 2011-12 budget adopted were layoffs of 13 more employees: three custodians and ten secretaries.
They are custodians Shawn Ferguson, Daniel Bobee, and Jacquie Johnson; and secretaries Sabrina Young, Barb Boss, Monique Holland, Angie Fielder, Stacy Etherton, Stephanie Mikulski, Mary Voigt, Deborah Lazaroff, Norma Richards, and Stephanie Karlinski.
“This is cutting everything very, very thin,” said School Supt. Thomas Riutta, who said special education and food service workers are yet to be cut.
“We’re not doing this because we want to be doing this. We’re going this because we’re going broke,” Supt. Riutta said.
The vote on the deficit budget was called unanimous for the five board members present, with Trustee Sherry Frazier not opening her mouth to cast a vote, Secretary Brenda McClanahan absent and Trustee Scott Russell having to leave to catch a plane for a business trip to California just before the vote was taken. Russell said, however, that he was against approving this budget as presented.
Trustee Toni Hunt said when she and McClanahan attended a session in Lansing, they were told if board members don’t approve a balanced budget, “We face jail time.”
Dixon said there are five or six state statutes they are in violation of, but the state will work with them.
The board also made official the $109,476 in cuts to athletics discussed at a previous meeting and the $20,000 increase in revenue expected from raising the athletic participation fees per sport from $50 to $75 for the high school and charging $45 for the middle school.
The cuts include eliminating BHS boys varsity tennis, girls varsity golf, girls freshman basketball, freshman volleyball, seventh grade sports at North and South Middle Schools, one wrestling coach, a full-time athletic trainer, and reducing the time of the athletic secretary.
About $8,000 is expected to be saved by renegotiating the middle school coaching stipends.
In other business at Monday’s three-hour meeting, the board:
• Approved the 2011 tax rate certification that includes: 18 mills for non-homestead property, 6 mills for commercial/personal property, 1.13 mills for sinking fund, and 2.98 mills for debt retirement (BHS construction);
• Approved the final amended budget of $52.5 million for 2010-11, some $185,435 better than expected. The unappropriated fund equity is $901, 496, with $750,000 of that committed to opening of the new high school in 2013 and textbooks for this fall;
• Approved purchase of 150 laptop computers from Dell at $161,306.69, which includes four 36-unit carts, carrying cases and pre-loaded software, as recommended by technology consultant Convergent Technology Partners. The laptops are for the New Tech program that starts this fall at BHS and 130 students have been accepted for the program, with 15 on the wait list;
• Approved the Savage Elementary Schoolwide Title 1 plan as presented. Savage was the only school in the district that was not Title 1, but now it also has enough students who qualify for free and reduced price lunches to make it a Title 1 school;
• Approved the requested termination of teacher Sarah Taylor at Edgemont for layoff; teacher Joan Miller at Elwell after 27 years for retirement; and Jeff Glombowski at BHS for one year, for resignation;
• Approved hiring David Tighe as a transportation department mechanic; and
• Announced the 7 p.m. July 11 meeting at the Administration Building, or perhaps at an alternate location, would have on the agenda: trimesters, middle school proposal, attendance areas, deficit elimination plan, and budget cuts.