Board approves budget reductions

By Karyn Spory, Mt. Pleasant News

It wasn?t an easy decision.

That sentiment was echoed around the table by Mt. Pleasant?s school board members as they voted unanimously to reduce the general fund budget by over $800,000 Monday night.

During a work session last week, board members were presented with three different options to reduce the budget. After a few days to mull it over, the board members voted unanimously to go with the first option, which was the recommendation of Superintendent John Henriksen. The plan reduced the budget by $829,982.

?Of the three (options), this is cutting the least amount out of the budget. I think the recommendation meets our needs without cutting other materials that might affect our students,? said board member Joy Conwell.

The reduction plan included reducing core teachers at the Middle School from five to four ($257,224), reducing the number of electives offered at the Middle School ($76,639), reducing elementary art (instructor designation, not student class time) ($39,587) and eliminating one English position at the High School ($58,865), which would be done by attrition.

Other reductions in the plan included scheduling professional development days as a mixture of half and full days instead of having them every Friday afternoon ($43,928), and moving purchases of building equipment and non-instructional software and fees from the general fund to funds from the penny sales tax or PPEL (physical plan and equipment levy) ($35,000) and dropping the MISIC (Mid Iowa School Improvement Corporation) membership ($2,000).

Henriksen?s recommendation also called for eliminating one full-time pre-school teacher, a position currently being filled by a long-term substitute ($55,403), reducing six para-educators district wide ($108,000) and eliminating junior kindergarten ($56,203).

The only change from Wednesday night, Henriksen noted, was that the reduction of six paras would be decided by administration, not simply eliminating one position from each building.

?I think it?s best left up to the administrators where the para comes from,? he said.

In other financial matters, the district is looking to spend money on a two-phase plan to air condition the elementary schools.

The funds, which would be spent over the course of two years, would not come from the general fund (where the board approved over $800,000 in reductions). Instead, the money would come from the school?s construction budget, which is made up of funds from the state?s penny sales tax.

The proposal from RDG Planning and Design calls for retrofitting HVAC units with heating/cooling at Harlan and Lincoln Elementary Schools this coming summer as part of the first phase. The second phase would see additional HVAC equipment designed for all four of the elementary schools as well as architectural and electrical modifications associated with HVAC improvements. The second phase would occur summer of 2018.

The first phase of the project would cost a total of $355,600, with $33,100 of that set as fees for RDG. A special session would be held on March 27 to approve the contract with RDG for the project. From there, the district would go out for bids on the project, having them due in early April. Following a public hearing on April 10, 2017, at 6:20 p.m. on the project, a bid would be awarded and construction could begin in early or mid June. The project should be done by mid to late July.

The second phase of the project would be bid out in January or February of 2018, allowing for construction to start in early June and be completed in early August.

The second phase is estimated to cost $1,751,600. Roughly $136,000 would be engineering and architecture fees for RDG.

In other business, the board:

? Set a public hearing for the Fiscal Year 2018 budget for April 10, 2017, at 6:15 p.m.

? Gave permission to the Mt. Pleasant Athletic Boosters to fund and upgrade the softball field.

? Approved changing WisdomQuest Alternative School?s graduation to Friday, May 19, 2017 at 7 p.m.

The school board will hold a work session on March 27, 2017, at 6 p.m., in the High School media center.