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S-O board to address 10 percent funding cut
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Faced with a 10 percent cut in state funding for the current academic year, members of Sibley-Ocheyedan's school board began the process of addressing the issue the October 12 monthly session.
"We were notified last Thursday there would be a 10 percent across-the-board budget cut to schools," Superintendent Jeff Herzberg told the board. "The 10 percent cut will mean approximately $374,000 for the Sibley-Ocheyedan school district. There are very few things we can cut to come up with that kind of money, which is approximately $42,000 per month for the next nine months."
Prior to the October 8 notification, Herzberg said he had been expecting an eight percent reduction in funding.
"It's possible we will be okay because we set our cash reserves at $300,000," the superintendent told the board. "The state will not raise taxes. This is an election year so they won't touch it. They will leave it to the local boards to do that."
Information provided by Herzberg quoted Larry Sigel, Iowa School Finance Information Services as offering three potential options.
"Since this is a cut to cash/fund balance and not spending authority, I believe it is unnecessary to make drastic cuts to backfill the lost cash. . . In most cases, nearly 80 percent of a district's total budget is staff. In other words, it means 20 percent of the budget absorbs 100 percent of the reduction," Sigel wrote.
Herzberg noted that staff totals 77 percent of S-O's budget.
Sigel went on to note that districts "cannot dramatically impact hearing, cooling, lighting and transportation costs which come out of the General Fund."
Finally, he noted that curing the remaining part of the budget, which includes things like curriculum, materials and supplies impact children.
Although he did not ask the board to act on the matter, Herzberg presented five options for the board to consider. They included:
* Do nothing. Use cash reserves the district holds to offset the cut;
* Do nothing this fiscal year, levy back the lost funds via the Cash Reserve Levy the following year or over a period of years;
* Borrow to fund the shortfall. District can utilize ISCAP, a very low interest cost interfund borrowing or stamping warrants;
* Reduce expenditures; or
* Shift expenditures to other sources to increase general fund flexibility, such as the PPEL or drop out prevention levy or go to the voters to increase the PPEL or Instructional Support Levy.
In addition, the superintendent presented a list of options developed last year to save the district money or increase revenues. The list, divided into sections reflecting potential options which would have little or no impact on student achievement and those which would impact student achievement.
Board members expect to continue addressing this matter over the next several months.
* Other business
In other business, the board:
* Granted a request for early graduation to Arrielle DeNoble;
* Began the process of reviewing board policy. It was learned the district must add the new protected classes of sexual orientation and gender identity to the district's policies as well as update the anti-bullying/harassment policy;
* Reviewed the video "Two Million Minutes" and the sequel, "Two Million Minutes - The 21st Century Solution" which compares the amount of time students in the United States, Europe and China spend on education as well as a look at a top-achieving charter school in the United States;
* Learned the district is in the process of scheduling elementary parent-teacher conferences for the first nine weeks, which ends Friday;
* Heard about the tutoring schedule being devised to help students at, or below, the 41st percentile in the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills in the fifth and sixth grades; and
* Noted the next scheduled meeting of the board is set for 11:30 a.m., on Monday, November 9, in the middle school IMC.
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