With all but one director present, the Cheney School Board unanimously adopted its 2015-2016 school year budget at a special meeting last Wednesday, July 29. The meeting was called because precise budget figures were late in getting to the school district due to the Legislature’s failure to adopt the state’s $38.2 billion two-year general operating budget until early July.
Cheney School District’s overall revenues for the coming year are anticipated at $49,861,109, with expenses calculated at $49,772,263, leaving an excess of $88,846. The excess is added to the district’s total ending fund balance, currently at $3 million, to bring that to $3,088,846 by June 2016.
Of the revenue, state funding accounts for $35,602,452 of the total, an increase of just over $3.9 million from last year’s amount, and over $5.8 million from 2013-14. Employee salaries and benefits account for over 83 percent of the expenses, with certificated staff receiving salaries totaling $22,601,839, classified staff receiving $7,070,839 while total benefits come in at $11,562,804.
Salaries and benefits have risen each of the past three years. The increase for the coming school year reflects a 3 percent cost of living adjustment included in the state’s 2015-17 biennial budget.
Supplies and materials expenses are calculated at $4,520,100, an increase of $271,489 over last year but not close to the jump experienced between 2013-14 and 2014-15. Costs for supplies and materials went from $2,747,652 in 2013-14 to $4,248,611 the next year — an increase of $1,500,959 or almost 65 percent.
Asked by board director Rick Mount about the increase, Superintendent Dr. Deb Clemens said there had been several different curriculum adoptions during that period. Associate Superintendent Sean Dotson added the district was also in the process of bringing three new schools on line.
“We’ve had a lot of classrooms set up in the last few years,” Dotson said.
One budget question surfacing at the district’s July 22 regular meeting centered on an increase of 68 employees for the coming school year while the full-time equivalent (FTE) student enrollment was anticipated to increase by only 176. The district’s executive director for finance, Kassidy Probert, explained the increase in staffing is due to rising needs in several areas.
Regarding certificated staff, additional teachers are needed due to the overall district enrollment topping what was budgeted for last year, all-day kindergarten now being offered at all five elementary schools, the potential for substitute teachers over the course of the year and rapid increases in special education students enrollments.
Classified staff increases stem from the need for more paraprofessionals, especially in special education, bus drivers and custodians along with programs, such as the expansion of the Trailblazers after school program, added after last year’s budget was adopted.
“We’ve only staffed for the kids we know we have,” Clemens said.
Dotson added the growth in staff is a combination of factors that include not only growth needs above budget, but also the fact that an emergency financial situation declared by the board in July 2013 restricted the hiring of additional staff and stretched existing staff thin.
“It looks like an increase, but really it catches us up,” Dotson said.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
Reader Comments(0)