District's Preliminary Budget Includes Layoffs, Pay-to-Play Fee Increases

Here’s a quick recap of Tuesday’s Saline Area Schools board of education meeting.

• The board heard a presentation from assistant superintendent Tom Wall on the budget outlook for 2011-12. Using conservative figures, Wall is projecting $50,130,833 in revenue against $51,040,822 in expenditures for a deficit of $909,989. The district plans to use the fund balance, which is estimated at $3.3 million, to balance the budget, dropping the fund balance to $2.2 million, or 4.36 percent of expenditures by the end of the 2011-12 year.

An existing board policy requires the district to carry a fund balance of five percent of its expenditures, but the board approved a new policy that will allow the district to carry a fund balance below five percent, with the stipulation that it must be replenished within two years. Along with the $900,000 from the fund balance, the district received $1.5 million in concessions from the Saline Education Association and made slightly more than $1.5 million in cuts, which includes the layoff of 18 full-time teachers, the elimination of a security guard and music accompanist at the high school, a hiring freeze in the custodial department, replacing the information technology director with a tech assistant to save $75,000, eliminating a half-time human resources employee, a $75 increase in pay-to-play fees, and delaying the purchase of text books.

Revenue is down by nearly $1.4 million. Lower property taxes account for about a third of that reduction. The district is receiving $200,000 less next year from the county special education millage. The big culprits are the reductions in per-pupil funding from the state and the end of federal stimulus money. The expenditures column includes a $955,000 increase in retirement and health care costs.

The district is estimating spending $51, 260,464 for 2010-11, which ends June 30.

• Superindendent Scot Graden presented a $500 scholarship and a plaque to Eric Lytle, the student representative on the board of education. Lytle will study political science at the University of Michigan.

• The school board and Saline High School principal Ben Williams honored students Julia Prisby and Jessica Opaleski for achieving the perfect score of 36 on the ACT test.

• Graden announced that two high school teaching jobs posted in the district were for the new Washtenaw International High School.

• Graden reported 121 applicants have applied to attend Saline Area Schools through the School of Choice program. He said he expected that number to increase by 20 before the application deadline Friday. The School of Choice lottery takes place June 20.

• Graden noted that he would soon be cooking lunch for the employees in the food services department, in part because employees won the gift basket contest at the spring craft show, and, he said,  because they deserve it. He thanked the food service department for its work all year.

• Assistant Superintendent Steve Laatsch reported that 75 teachers will attend a reading and literacy institute at Saline Middle School.

• Laatsch said that he and SEA President Juan Luachu will attend a workshop in Lansing with the goal of helping the district develop a teacher evaluation process in line with the coming state guidelines.

• In his report, Wall thanked everyone involved in the Saline High School graduation. He reported that the entire the stage and chairs were taken down in a record time of 90 minutes.

• Board vice-president David Medley, acting as chairman in the absence of president Chuck Lesch, congratulated the 430-member class of 2011 for graduating, and said he looked forward to hearing all their success stories in years to come.

• Saline Area Schools is talking with the Pittsfield Township Department of Public Safety about having an officer assigned to cover Saline High School.

“It’s a campus of 1,800 students and 300 adult staff and we want it to continue to be a safe place,” Graden said. “We have a shared public interest in making sure it’s a safe environment.”

The district and township would need to negotiate a cost-sharing deal. Graden said one idea for the district’s share of the cost is to raise the high school parking fee.

• Laatsch reported on the fourth goal of the district’s strategic plan. The fourth goal involves fostering a positive work environment in the district. Laatsch said the district has work to do in this area.

“Honestly, morale is low now. The staffing process has been extremely difficult for everybody,” Laatsch said. “But that doesn’t mean we put on the brakes and say it’s impossible to improve.”

Laatsch said an important way to improve morale is to improve job satisfaction.

“Studies have shown that employees feel the ability to make a difference in their organization brings more job satisfaction than monetary gains,” said Laatsch.

To reach this goal, Saline Area Schools will be refocusing its professional development to make sure it meets the needs of teachers. Another step is the creation of a superintendent advisory group that will be made up of teachers, support staff and administration. Laatsch said the district would try to do a better job identifying leadership opportunities available to school staff.

“Despite these tough times, we can do more to meet the needs of our employees,” Laatsch said.