I have been attending all the School District budget workshops (now called "special meetings") for this coming budget, and yesterday, as the article below explains, the School Board approved a budget of $662 million for 2008 (which started LAST JULY) to June, 2009. So, it only took the administration and Board two months to decide the budget into the new spending year.
Given the fact that School Supt. Anna Cowin's staff was unorganized, and rarely presented any factual data to support budget justifications (other than verbal, feel good statements), the Board did a good job reviewing many (not all) line item spending plans, and rolling some of them back. Chairman Larry Metz and board member Cindy Barrow were especially effective in ferreting out some unneeded spending. However, there were still BS statements from some managers and the Board had to approve some spending that I would have kicked back.
One confusing factor is that the total budget lumps in capital spending, which is mostly school construction. So when reporter David Donald says the budget is "about $80 million less than last year's", he doesn't explain much or ALL of the reduction is from a drop in construction spending. So, it is misleading. The handout at yesterday's Board meeting only showed future totals and factors, but no comparison data from the past year was provided. Without comparison data, I get a queasy feeling that the spending may be higher than we think.
But, the Board did actually set aside a full 4% for reserves (not all Counties do that), and did reduce spending below the fore casted break even point, but neither the staff or the Board really provided specifics on what actually was reduced in comparison to the past years, or how much reserves are actually sitting to be gobbled up by the upcoming union salary negotiations. If we see the Unions getting significant increases, rather than saving the funds in a reserve, we will know who owns the Board.
I am preparing a white paper on needed improvements in the budget and reporting systems for the School District, and will post it in a week or so. I plan to ask the remaining election candidates for School Board (Brandeburg, Richardson, Stivender and Glass) whether they will commit to implementing them for the next budget "season". I did give a rough early draft to some candidates, but didn't ask for feedback at that time last month.
vj
From the Daily Commercial
published: Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Board adopts budget, trims taxes
DAVID DONALD
Staff Writer
TAVARES -- After three months of scrutinizing the school district's spending plan, the Lake County School Board adopted its $662 million 2008-09 budget on Monday.
That's about $80 million less than last year's.
The board also lowered the property tax rate by 1.7 percent to $7.517 per $1,000 in assessed property value -- more than one cent less than last year's rate.
After taking the standard $25,000 homestead exemption, owners of a 250,000 home would pay $1,691 a year in school taxes. Homeowners paid $1,732 on the same home last year.
"The process we employed this year may have been tedious but it was ... called for," said board Chairman Larry Metz. "We have a budget that is conservative and reflective of the times we are in."
District officials expected to cut $11 to $13 million from the budget this year after falling sales tax revenue and a slumping housing market forced state legislators to reduce the money districts received. Board members reviewed the budget line item by line item, searching for cuts that wouldn't affect classrooms and teachers.
Board members froze positions, nixed out-of-state travel, eliminated unnecessary administrative positions and asked each department to reduce its budget by 20 percent.
While Lake escaped relatively unscathed, several school districts made difficult decisions by closing schools and eliminating teacher positions because of declining student enrollment.
Lake is still seeing some growth in student enrollment, although not as much as originally projected, district officials said. The latest figures show more than 140 students enrolled compared to last year.
And with the state expecting another major revenue shortfall next year, educators are preparing for even more cuts.
District officials have set aside more than $13 million to absorb any unexpected costs.
Metz said a decrease in student enrollment -- after the state performs the final head count this fall, state cuts, unsettled union contracts, rising fuel costs and storm events -- could eat into that fund.
Throughout the budget process, board members often criticized the administration for not bringing information in a complete and timely manner.
Board members and out-going Superintendent Anna Cowin often seemed at odds with one another in budget meetings -- squabbling over programs and department budgets.
But Strong, whose term expires in November, said that strained relationship has produced a better budget.
"There has been a very revealing, thorough process of vetting every single dollar," he said. "There is a huge silver lining in this relationship. The honesty is freeing; we don't feel like we have to sugar-coat anything.
Board Member Cindy Barrow said the budget process was "long, tedious and exhausting."
"I feel like I have a much better view of the district as result of going through every department," she said.
Barrow said after the extensive review, the need for a strategic plan that outlines budget priorities was evident. That's one of the first tasks the school board and superintendent-designate Susan Moxley will work on, she said.
"It drives me nuts that we don't have this," Barrow said. "It's the most important thing we could do.
