Cliff Buchan
News EditorBy April, parents of incoming kindergarten students should know how much a new fee-based all-day, every-day program will cost. And by the same time, ISD 831 should know if enough parents are interested to make the program viable.
The school board took the first step on Monday voting 7-0 to approve the fee-based program and authorized the district to continue with planning for the program over the next two months. The action will enable the district to move forward with a task force, said Superintendent Lynn Steenblock.
The move is the latest school district step in budget-related moves for the 2004-2005 school year. The district is set to drop its current half-day, every-day kindergarten program in lieu of a cost-saving all-day, every-other-day kindergarten program.
Ending the half-day program is expected to save the district some $260,000 in transportation costs. Without the change, the district has said it would be forced to cut another seven elementary teachers.
The kindergarten program is just one component of a budget-cutting plan approved last fall. The plan was developed as a public statement showing steps the district would need to take if the districtís Nov. 4 operating levy proposal should fail.
The five-year, $2 million annual levy was soundly defeated and the district is now moving ahead with its budget cutting process.
Along with the kindergarten program change, the district will also cut 25 teaching positions as a key part of its $2 million expenditure reduction for the 2004-2005 school year that starts on July 1.
Steenblock said Monday the fee-based all-day, every-day program would give parents another option in the fall and better meet the needs of some parents.
With the board approval on Monday, a superintendent-appointed task force will convene to complete the planning. The task force will consist of kindergarten teachers, two elementary principals and district office staff.
It will meet for the first time from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday, Jan. 16. Other meeting dates will be determined by the group.
Winter planning
With two months of winter planning awaiting the task force, Steenblock said the group should be ready for a follow-up report to the school in March. That report will outline final plans for the fee-based program.
A cost for the program has not been determined. Some form of sliding fee schedule would be determined, based on financial need, Steenblock said.
The planning will come in advance of the districtís kindergarten roundup in April. Any decision on the fee-based all-day program for kindergarten will have to be factored into the school calendar for the 2004-2005 school year.
The calendar must be set by April 1 but the board is unsettled on its decision because of Labor Day on Sept. 6 and the customary post-Labor Day first day of school.
Steenblock explained Monday the fee-based kindergarten program would ìtechnicallyî be operated through Community Service. The program, he said, would in essence ìmore time-same contentî that would augment what students would experience at home or in daycare on the days when they would not be in school under the every-other-day option.
The superintendent said the goal is to have the fee-based program at all elementary. But in some cases, if interest at neighboring schools is not at needed levels, one school may be used as a site for the two schools. He used Lino Lakes and Columbus as examples for sharing.
A minimum of 20 students will be needed to make up a section under the all-day, every-day format, Steenblock said.
Although offered through Community Services, the plan for the task force as outlined by the administration Monday includes no representation from Community Services programs such as Early Childhood Family Education or the School Age Care (SAC).
As part of its study, new board member Keith Dunham asked Steenblock to research the cost of having the all-day, every-day kindergarten program as a regular part of the curriculum. He applauded the staff for its work on the option.
Budget update
As a preface to the kindergarten discussion Monday, Larry Martini, director of business affairs, spent 20 minutes outlining the districtís revised budget outlook for 2004-2005 and the reasons why the budget cuts are moving forward as planned.
Because of unexpected state aid from higher student enrollment counts, special education funding not previously captured by the district and tighter spending practices, the district was able to make significant improvements in its fund balances for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2003.
The district has emerged from statutory operating debt status two years ahead of its scheduled date and turned a negative unreserved fund balance of $2.13 million on June 30, 2002 to a positive balance of just under $178,000 this past June 30.
But with no signs of increased state aid in the upcoming fiscal, two years of frozen state aid and the inability to win voter approval for more local dollars, an estimated $2 million in budget cuts for 2004-2005 must be made, Martini said.
Based on auditorís recommendation, Martini said the district should attempt to build an unreserved fund balance of 4-6 percent to guard against budget variances. Based on its $60 million budget, the balance should be in the area of $3 million, he said.
For the 2004-2005 school year, Martini said he continues to recommend the district ìtake half the stepî in building its fund balance. For June 30, 2005, he is hopeful the balance will build to about $1 million.
Uncertainties that remain are the cost of contract settlements with employee groups. About 80 percent of the districtís total costs are employee-driven, he said, and the impact of two-year contract settlements has to be measured.
The district continues to negotiate a new two-year deal with its teachers for the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 school years.
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