Faced with having to make major cuts in expenditures for the upcoming fiscal year budget of 2010-2011, the E-B school board appointed a 15-member Cost Savings Committee to review all the district’s expenditures and to find possible savings which would have a minimal negative effect on the present quality of education. The committee was a fairly diverse group with respected members from both the communities of Eddyville and Blakesburg as well as a couple of school administrators, teachers, and a union representative. I was particularly impressed with Susan Bayer, the school board secretary and Scott Williamson, the high school principal, who both explained the school budget, the different funding accounts and the major expenditures. They were both very knowledgeable and did an outstanding job in their presentations and in educating the members of the committee who were not familiar with the complex school budget process. Scott Williamson repeated several times throughout his presentation and in latter discussions that he believed in “transparency” and wanted everything to be out in the open and available to the committee.
Faced with the challenge of having to reduce the budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars, the committee did a remarkable job and came up with many cost-cutting options. The committee members did not feel it was their responsibility to recommend which options to implement, and left most of those decisions to the school board. However, when it came to the five options for the realignment of classes and/or the moving of the middle school, the committee did rank the options by what they considered the most favorable to the least favorable. I think the committee did a very good job and they deserve our thanks for devoting their time and effort to the difficult task they were assigned.
The school district’s budget for fiscal year 2010-2011 was approved by the school board at its meeting on March 22 at the Blakesburg Middle School. It could be said that the budget was based on the worst case scenario – that the state’s 10% across the board cut would remain in effect for the coming school year and that there may be further reductions ahead. (Although, as of today which is supposed to be the last day of the state legislative session, it appears some of the state funding and allowable growth for schools will be renewed).
After the budget was approved at the last school board meeting, Dr. Dean Cook, the School Superintendent, gave a presentation on the “District Building Alignment.” He proposed moving the middle school in Blakesburg to the north wing of the high school at the end of this school year. (In my opinion, Dr. Cook has done a good job, overall, in the fiscal management of the school district – he brought it from being in the red six years ago to the very positive balance of today with a large cash reserve an unspent balance. As with the budget, he had to consider the worst case scenario and felt that he had to take immediate action by moving the middle school almost right away).
Both Dr. Cook and the Cost Savings Committee have proposed moving the middle school to the high school. But their proposals were diametrically opposed as to how and when to make the move. In considering this issue, the Committee felt it would be better to take it slower, consider all the factors and, if necessary, plan the move in a more orderly manner. Committee member Brian Chambers agreed that significant reductions had to be made in the budget, but they shouldn’t be made all at once. He felt the State was going to have to help the school districts with some of their funding. Committee member Ron Shafer emphasized the importance of keeping the district attractive so that people with school children would want to move here and also that the district would attract open enrollments from other districts. Scott Williamson did not feel that having the middle school classrooms in the main high school building would be a good situation because of the difference in age groups. Others did not feel having the middle school classroom in the mobile buildings behind the school would be appropriate.
Of the five options for realigning classes in the district, the Cost Saving Committee gave its highest favorability rating for moving the middle school to the high school, BUT on the condition that there should be a new facility for the middle school students along with planning for the long term building needs of the district. If this condition was not included in such a move, then the committee’s rating would fall to its second lowest favorability rating. The five options listed in the committee’s report are, as follows:
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Options
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Rating*
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Comments
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a. 7th & 8th grades at the high school campus.
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4
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New facility and long term building needed.
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b. 6, 7, 8 at EEAC with a three section elementary.
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3
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c. 6, 7, 8 at BAC with a three section elementary.
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3
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Not a long term goal. Minimum amount of savings.
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d. 6, 7, 8 at BAC at BAC with a two section elementary.
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2
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e. Centralized Location
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1
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Should be viewed if consolidation with other districts is considered.
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*Rating scale 1 to 5 with 5 being the most favorable and 1 the least favorable.
In the committee’s report to the school board there was this statement:
“(The) committee believes that buildings should be viewed to best position Eddyville-Blakesburg with possible consolidations in the future. How do we attract communities to see our district as attractive? Be pro-active to make sure we do not become the district who is split.”
To be continued, tomorrow.