Fairfield school district saves more than projected

The Fairfield school district made budget cuts last year, projecting $973,600 in savings this year.

The district actually realized a savings of $1.035 million in its fiscal year 2012 budget to date, or $61,432 more than anticipated.

?We wanted to see if we actually saved the amount of money we anticipated in making these cuts,? Kim Sheets, district business manager, told the finance committee Thursday night.

Sheets reviewed a line-by-line listing of last year?s agreed-upon cuts, showing the proposed savings and actual savings per item.

The cuts decided on last year went into effect this school year, and included: reduced extra days in teachers? and guidance counselors? contracts; eliminating teachers and associates, some part time, some full time, as well as a secretary who retired was not replaced at Fairfield High School and a secretary at district offices was cut, all adding up to 15.9 ? or nearly 16 ? full-time-equivalent people gone; eliminated a [Libertyville] bus route; postponed anticipated adoption of new language arts curriculum material; realized a savings in hiring new administrators at lower pay than outgoing administrators; and aligned and tweaked several areas to gain more efficiency and realize more savings.

All of the proposed cuts at FHS matched the actual savings this year with the projected saving announced last year. There is one additional savings added at the high school: after the cuts were made, a half-time language arts teacher resigned and was not replaced, adding $20,804 to the savings side.

Savings at the middle and elementary schools matched the projected savings amounts.

In districtwide funds, some savings were less, some more than projections, and Sheets explained the discrepancies.

District will get less state money

Superintendent Art Sathoff briefed administrators and the three school board members ? Jennifer Anderson, Jeremy Miller and Jerry Nelson ? who comprise the finance committee about Iowa school budget processes in general and Fairfield?s state of finances in particular.

?This year, fiscal year 2012, Fairfield?s enrollment count [taken and certified in October 2010] was 1,710 students,? said Sathoff. ?The Legislature gave schools zero allowable growth money. The state gave $5,883 cost per pupil, or $10.06 million in regular program district cost money. The state also provided budget guarantee money to districts with declining enrollments. That money was figured at 101 percent of our previous year district cost. So Fairfield received an additional $355,504 from the state this year.?

The district?s official student enrollment count in October was 1.7 more students than last year. Student counts sometimes have fractions because special education students are weighted more than one whole student.

?With an increase in enrollment, Fairfield will not qualify for any budget guarantee funds for next year,? said Sathoff. ?The cost per pupil increases to $6,001, because the state is giving 2 percent allowable growth, but we?ll also see increases in costs because each year, salaries go up and we know the medical insurance costs will go up 6 to 8 percent. But because we?ll lose that budget guarantee funding, we?ll actually receive 1.4 percent less money from the state for fiscal year 2013. It?s known as having negative new money.

?To create the annual budget, we look at new money. We?ll have no new money,? said Sathoff. ?Our projections indicate we?ll end up this year in better shape than last year. We are turning a corner, but we have to be good stewards, too.?

Costs increase next year

Nelson pointed out annual negotiations are coming up, presenting an unknown cost for budgeting purposes.

Sathoff acknowledged this is the case, but negotiations? analyses predict districts will see 3.2 percent to 4.2 percent increases in total package compensations.

?The county just came in at 2.5 percent increase,? said Nelson.

?I think we?ll have a good spirit of cooperation,? said Sathoff. ?I?m also hopeful we can settle quickly so we know what numbers we are working with. But our new budget will be approved and published before we know for certain how this year ended up. That?s the nature of Iowa school budgets.?

Sathoff said the timeline will be: building the budget in February and March; negotiating in February and March; if making any reductions in force, that would be done in April; and closing the books in June.

?Administrators need to be finding efficiencies, we need to be thinking how closely we can figure the ?knowns? and predict increases in the budget, and if needed, discuss how cuts will be made,? he said.

Nelson asked how much the newly opened high school computer lab cost.

?$26,000,? replied Mark Cramer, technology director.

?We budgeted $200,000 to technology this year,? said Sathoff. ?We need more access for our students and some equipment is aged.?

Fred McElwee, director of auxiliary services, also reminded Nelson that district employees did all the hardwiring in-house.

?We are very fortunate to have a master electrician on staff,? he said. ?It saves us a lot.?

Anderson asked Sathoff and Sheets if they knew what would be the best approach at this point to keep track of the budget for the remainder of the year.

?I?d like to plan to avoid a negative balance,? she said. ?Having gone through that before, I don?t want to go there.?

Sathoff agreed, saying no one likes having to face sanctions or appeal to the state because of debt.

?We also don?t want to develop a bunker mentality,? he said. ?We want to think the district can keep improving and enhancing education while saving money. I urge everyone to stay positive. We?ve done some deep cutting, and it shouldn?t be quite as dramatic as last year.?

Nelson said he gets a lot of questions about closing Libertyville Elementary School.

?There?s several factors to consider there,? said Sathoff. ?We look at the value of class sizes, a good community, it?s a good building with good teachers. It?s easier to justify running it with 103 students this year instead of 89.

?We?d have to have formal talks among all the elementary building staff to see if they could accommodate extra students if we closed it.?

The next regular school board meeting is at 7 p.m. Monday in the district?s Administration/Curriculum/Technology conference room.