VBPS Board of Education approves amended budget

Although the revenue was higher than expected for the 2022-23 school year, the expenses also were even higher, causing the school district budget amendments to take $2,436,369 from the fund balance of the Van Buren Public Schools.
At Monday’s meeting, the school board unanimously approved the amendments after an illustrated explanation by Finance Director Priya Nayak.
She said the budget had been put together estimating student count for the year at 4,212.87 and it came in at 4,313.34. The state aid was higher than the $9,100 estimated and came in at $9,150. Staffing also rose from 562 to 575 and ESSER funding, estimated at $9.9 million, came in at $10.6 million.
Total revenue was $72,070,259, which was higher than the $67,167,662 expected. But expenditures were higher than expected in every category except Community Services, totaling $74,506,628.
Taking the $2,436,369 difference out of the fund balance leaves $8,754,256 in the total fund balance. This is 12% of the budget up from the 8% estimated that it would have been.
Also during Monday’s regular 55-minute meeting, the school board:
• Approved spending $27,600 on a contract with Building Maps of Rockford to complete the District’s Critical Incident Mapping as presented at the last school board meeting. It will create maps for emergency crews for seven buildings: Belleville High School, McBride Middle School, Owen Intermediate, and Edgemont, Savage, Rawsonville, and Tyler elementary schools;
• Learned Bentonja Bond, a Bus Aide on a Special Needs Route, Bus 8, was nominated by her peers and selected by a committee to receive the 2023 Wayne County Excellence in Transportation Award. The award comes from Wayne RESA;
• Approved the retirements of teachers Cynthia Davis from BHS after 19 years of service as of June 21; Denise Willoughby from Edgemont after 42 years as of June 30; Ernest Krumm from BHS after 29 years as of June 30; Timothy Miller of McBride after 24 years as of June 21; Iris Rinaldi of BHS after 30 years as of June 30; and Laurie Kunz of Tyler after 13 years as of Oct. 6;
• Approved the resignations of teachers Blake Miller of BHS after 2 years as of June 21; Aminah Ali of Rawsonville after 2 years as of June 23; and Colbie Lee of Tyler after 2 years as of Aug. 31;
• Approved the employment of Emmanual Jones as a second-grade teacher at Tyler as of April 10;
• Approved the resignations of non-instructional staff members: Tayler Babik, Early Childhood Center paraprofessional after less than one year of service on March 20; Laura Nichols as a bus driver after four years as of March 24; Amanda Ellis as a bus driver of less than one year as of April 3; DeJuan Rogers, BHS Safety Liaison/Head Football Coach for less than one year as of March 31; Bryan Vannoy as bus driver for less than a year as of April 4; and Amy Ballard from ECC for less than a year as of April 5;
• Approved hiring the following non-instructional employees: Deseree Laginess, bus driver, as of March 13; Kayla Chapin, BHS Food Service, as of March 20; Toriyanna Mayes, Edgemont paraprofessional as of March 20; Cora Olivarri, Savage Food Service, as of March 20; James Anthony, bus driver, as of March 20; Joshua Morin, Building & Grounds custodian as of April 10; and Bette Ladouceur, Building & Grounds Supervisor, as of April 10;
• Heard school board president recount her experience as a chaperone on the five-day trip to New York with the BHS Symphony Band, her third-such trip. She said she was very impressed by the maturity and respect the students showed at the 9-11 Museum. They weren’t born when the attack occurred, but they were really, really interested in the exhibits and had to be called away when it was time to leave, she said, adding, “They are just nice kids.” She said they played phenomenally at Carnegie Hall and received the highest compliments from the adjudicators;
• Was reminded of the Career Day at BHS from 9 a.m. to noon on April 22 when local businesses will talk to students; and
• Heard parent Angela Mears report the BHS Marching Band is selling cards for discounts on meals and other things to help them earn money to fund their trip to Sea World in November. Cards are $20 each and $10 of that goes to the band. The discounts are good to March 31, 2024.