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Fiscal Facts-4518

Published April 15, 2010

The Williamson County Board of Education presented its budget for the 2010-2011 school year to the Williamson County Budget and Education Committees during a joint meeting April 12. 

In an effort to help the Williamson County community better understand the budget and the budget process, IN FOCUS has launched a new feature called Fiscal Facts.  The purpose of this section is to answer any questions you might have, or rumors you may have heard, regarding the 2010-2011 budget.  Simply EMAIL your questions to us and we will respond to them in upcoming issues of IN FOCUS.

Since our last issue of IN FOCUS, we received two questions regarding the budget:

According to Issue 17 of IN FOCUS, the school board took steps to reduce budget costs which include "eliminating 16 district-wide professional and support positions."  Which schools are affected by these 16 job eliminations and what percentage of savings were made in each school district?

The 16 positions noted were district-wide and supplementary to the schools.  They were central office-related positions such as a director and secretaries, technology coaches and mentors.  In addition, the general purpose funded Reading Recovery positions (3.5 which were spread between the Title I schools) were eliminated.  The elimination of these 16 positions represents an approximate savings of $875,000.  In total, the district cut proposed positions for next year by 26 which would amount to an approximate savings of $1,421,000.

At a time when assistant principal positions might be eliminated, how is it fair to employees currently working in this district for out of state principals to be hired instead?  How much of their moving costs are being paid for by WCS?

We always hire who we feel is the best candidate from those who apply.  We do not pay for the moving expenses of employees.  The only moving expenses that have ever been paid by the district in the last few years has been for the Superintendent of Schools.

In addition, below is more information regarding the proposed budget:

Williamson County Board of Education 2010-2011 Budget Proposal Snapshot

$220,042,863 School Board adopted budget for the operation of 37 existing and three new schools

  • 85 percent of the budget represents salaries and benefits.  Of that 85 percent:
    • 68 percent of our positions are filled with educators.
    • 32 percent of our positions are for support personnel such as bus drivers, maintenance workers, technicians, clerical and supervisory staff.
       
  • Despite a projected increase of students, the number of employees requested is being reduced. Employees for 2009-2010: 3,260; 2010-2011: 3,233 an overall reduction of 26 employees, with 16 representing personnel from district-wide support.
     
  • 5 percent - Contracted services (such as janitorial services,  contracted services for children that we cannot provide, maintenance contracts, copier leases for all schools).
     
  • 7 percent - Materials and Supplies (such as textbooks, instructional materials and manipulatives, science kits,  electricity, bus fuel, water and sewer, maintenance supplies).
     
  • 3 percent - Insurance (such as Property, buildings and workman compensation,  Trustee’s commission, start up cost for 2 new schools opening in 2011-12).
     
  • <1 percent - Capital items such as equipment over $100 and has a useful life over 3 years.

Number of new students expected over 2009-2010 enrollment: 643 ~ 2 percent growth.

  • Enrollment expected 31,206 for K-12 program

Anticipated new revenue (including fund balance) 5 percent less than expectations of the prior year.

  • "Rainy day fund" $6 million less than prior year balance of $13.5 at $7.1.
     
  • 97 percent of our funding sources for the General Purpose operating fund come from the following:
    • Local Property taxes (36 percent)
    • Local Sales taxes (16 percent)
    • State funding mechanism - the BEP (Basic Education Program) formula (45 percent)
       
  • 3 percent comes from federal sources, other charges for services and other minor local revenues.
  • State’s new BEP 2.0 does not favor Williamson County and we will continue to see reduced earnings in this revenue in the future.
     
  • State BEP funding for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 uses a significant number of dollars from  ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) Funds.

Expenditures for a Status Quo Budget - Rolling into next year’s operations expenditures could have amounted to $13 million for the following:

  • An additional $500 per employee for medical insurance (1.8M).
  • Employer share for retirement costs up 2.6 percent over last year $3M.
  • Personnel (principal, bookkeeper, librarian etc.) and operational costs (utilities, janitorial services etc)  to open two new elementary and one new middle school (up to $4M).
  • New employees that resulted from growth of students ($1.5M).
  • Teacher experience roll (salary increase) of $1.9M.

Being mindful of current economic conditions, a diligent effort was made to reduce a status quo budget to one that still maintains the integrity of instructional programs. We accomplished this through:

  • Deletion of certain district wide professional and support positions (16 positions).
  • Raising the PTR at the middle and high schools by reducing number of teachers after the normal PTR was established and reducing certain specials at the elementary level.
  • Substantial change in the amount and methodology of distribution of site based funds.

Although we trimmed the budget to educate our students during these down times, we currently still need the equivalent of 15¢ in property tax revenue or $9.2 M to fund our budget.

  • July 1, 2010 anticipated fund balance $7.1M.
  • State recommended fund balance $6.6M.

Other funds to be approved:

  • Central Cafeteria Budget in the amount of $9,106,679 which is self supporting.
    • No lunch fee increase.
  • Extended School Program in the amount of $1,077,026 which is also self supporting.
    • New program at Allendale
    • Increase in rates approved for July 1

We also have capital requests totaling $6,839,119.

  • Maintenance requests that include roofs, infrastructure and HVAC repairs, a renovation project and a CTE lab amounted to $3,898,608.
  • Technology requests included growth and replacement needs of infrastructure and equipment in the amount of $2,940,519.

As we go through the budget process, our revenue situation may change as we receive more information from the state and from the county assessor’s office about property tax.

Budget meetings with the committees of the county commission:

  • Second meeting with Education committee on Monday, April 26 at 5:30 p.m., Administrative Complex, Executive Conference Room, First Floor.
     
  • Second meeting with Budget committee on Thursday May 13, at 5:30 p.m., Administrative Complex, Executive Conference Room, First Floor.
     
  • Public Hearing on the entire County Budget for 2010-2011, June 8 at 5:30 p.m., Complex Auditorium.
     
  • Approval of the entire Williamson County Government 2010-2011 Budget (which includes the Board’s funds), July 12, 9:00 a.m., Complex Auditorium.

Developments:

After the School Board approved the budgets for the funds, Williamson County asked that $500 more per employee be added to each fund for insurance appropriations.  This will add another 3 cents to the General Purpose proposed tax rate increase of 15 cents bringing the funding needed to 18 cents (which translates to approximately $11 million).  The other funds (central cafeteria and extended school program) are self supporting, and the increase will be included in their appropriations as well.

 Use the chart below to personalize your situation if the county chooses to fund a 15 cent property tax.