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School district not laying off full-timers with budget fix
by Kevin Hatfield, School Superintendent · Op-Ed · April 14, 2016


Today’s article is the first in a series of three communications designed to update stakeholders regarding the ongoing strategic work happening in the West Branch School District.
I hope you appreciate the factual, transparent information.

• School Budget: Tax Rate, Staffing and Programming Alignment

• Why Reinvest in School District Facilities?

• Why Blended and Project-Based Learning?



School Budget: Tax Rate, Staffing and Programming Alignment

This is only the second time in my five years as superintendent that we have full knowledge of the actual percentage of state funding we can count on, which significantly impacts the asking levy of local taxpayers before the legal publishing deadline of on or before April 15th.

I only wish the State had to follow the law regarding the establishment of funding for schools. On Wednesday, April 7th, the governor approved Suplemental State Aid at 2.25 percent. This equates to about $145 per student.

By the time of this article, the Board will have likely published an asking school tax rate of approximately $14.13 per $1,000 of assessed valuation for the 2016–2017 school year. This will be a slight decline in the total school tax rate per $1,000 of assessed valuation. We thank you for your support.



Why are school districts’ General Funds so tight?

For the record, FY 2011 through FY 2017 State Supplemental Aid (SSA) has been set at 2 percent, 0 percent, 2 percent, 2 percent, 2 percent + 2 percent (a one-time funding of 2 percent), 4 percent, 1.25 percent (with veto equally loss of $89,000 to the WBCSD), and now 2.25 percent. So, we have a eight-year average SSA trend of a little over 2 percent. Meanwhile, student supplies, transportation, programming and staffing have an average annual cost increase of 3 percent regardless.

Couple the above information with a two-year enrollment decline of 43 students (even with a +10 open enrollment increase) and you can understand why I asked the Board of Education to help the administrative team study and establish a budget adjustment target. We finalized a General Fund adjustment target of $350,000 in early December 2015. We are making difficult, but needed cost-containment decisions while balancing the immediate and long-term needs of our students at all grade levels.

I can report that no full-time staff members will receive pink slips. Program and course options for students will remain virtually unchanged. This should not be interpreted to mean teaching assignments and scheduling adjustments will not be required. Our Full Time Teacher Equivalency (FTE) will still be higher for the 2016–2017 school year, with an expected enrollment of 770, than it was for the 2006–2007 school year’s enrollment of 769 students. Keep in mind, any additional staffing or programming required between now and the start of the next school year, will likely require the District to adjust services elsewhere.



Summary of Budget Adjustments and Impact

(As of April, 2016)

Level I: Early Retirements, Internet Contract, Purchase Service Contracts, Reinstatement 2012-2013 Registration fees. Estimated General Funds Saving = $135,000 to $145,000

Level II: Full time Administrator, reduction number of summer cleaning crew members. Estimated General Funds Savings = $75,000 to $80,000

Level III: Building and Library Budget Adjustments

Fulltime Staff Equivalency: Slight reduction in total PE, HS Language Arts, H.S. Art, and Learning Strategies supports. The reductions have been arrived at from Department of Education requirement changes, student requests, scheduling and/or staff attrition (retirement) adjustments. Slight increase in CTE course FTE (.2)

We will not have a Transition Kindergarten option for 2016–2017 due to enrollment/cost factors and Iowa D.E. standards requirements.

Number of Sections at 5th Grade Question: Mrs. Burger, Mrs. Oswald and I will continue to study the class size of this two-section group, the smallest grade level group in the district. No decision will be made until after registration in August. Estimated General Funds Savings = $135,000 to $140,000

The above topics impact the District’s General Fund. Districts have Physical Plant and Educational Levy (PPEL) and SAVE (state-wide one-cent sales infrastructure tax) levies that are not part of the District’s General Fund. PPEL and SAVE funds can only be used (with few exceptions) for “brick and mortar” improvements. So, we will be a smaller district for the next few years. Our budget, facilities, staffing and services must be strategically aligned, so that we can continue to provide outstanding learning experiences for all students!

Six-Year Total School Tax Rate - FY12 ($14.05), FY13 ($13.96), FY14 ($14.10), FY15 ($14.17) and FY16 ($14.13)



Kevin Hatfield is the superintendent of West Branch Community Schools. You may reach him at 319-643-7213 or khatfield@west-branch.k12.ia.us.