Cameron County School Board faces daunting budget figures

Cameron County School Board faces daunting budget figures: EMPORIUM — Members of the Cameron County School District Board continue efforts to balance expected revenues with expenditures prior to passage of a budget for the 2016-17 school year.


 At the last meeting, held a little more than a week ago, the projected deficit stood around $500,000 for the $12.6 million budget. Through recent administrative efforts and directives given to Business Manager Carl Mitchell during this meeting, the projected deficit is expected to be closer to $300,000.


Approximately $100,000 in savings has been gained through refinancing of the district’s bonds, while an additional $90,000 will be saved by not filling several vacancies — a high school social studies position and two elementary aides.
Superintendent Christine Holjencin advised the board that an additional sum could be saved by not hiring an assistant principal. The savings estimate to leave the social studies and assistant principal positions open was around $170,000 annually, with an estimated $20,000 in savings realized by not hiring aides for the above-listed open positions.


A number of teachers attended the meeting to advocate for their departments, though board members have not openly discussed the furlough of any current employees during the budget negotiations, and members asked following the meeting stated there had been no discussion on the topic.


 Teachers in some departments, including music and library, were only asked to submit job descriptions.
High school music teacher and band director Dan Sensenig spoke on behalf of the district’s music department, which has an approximately 20 percent student participation level, compared to the national participation level of approximately 10 percent.
The district has a robust music program, including high school band and chorus, elementary band and chorus, and a number of smaller, more specialized musical groups including the Jazz Band and Ukulele Club. The music program has long been a point of pride in Cameron County, and select students are preparing currently to participate in Pearl Harbor Day celebrations later this year.


 Board members also discussed transportation issues that could help with cost savings, and discussed the possibility of deploying vans to pick up students in remote areas, rather than sending the large, fuel-inefficient full-size school buses to retrieve only a handful of students. Some savings have already been realized through paying parents to transport some students, rather than using IU9 contractors.


Requests from teachers were also down this year, helping to lower projected costs. High school requests were down $6,000 from last year. Figures for Woodland Elementary School appeared to have risen by nearly $4,000, but the purchase of new science books — at a cost of more than $10,000 — were included in those numbers.
Board members also discussed pool expenses, which are included along with crossing guards under “Community Service” in the budget.


Expenditures for that line item total a projected $42,000 for the coming year. Mitchell said approximately $5,000 to $6,000 come in from ticket sales at the pool.
Mitchell said he always estimates liberally on the expense side, and conservatively on the revenue side to be sure things will balance out even if there are unforeseen circumstances.
“We don’t spend everything we typically thought we’d spend and we usually make more money than we projected,” Mitchell said. In previous years, budgets have been accepted with projected deficits of $350,000 to $500,000, with the gap expected to be filled by fund balance money. The fund balance is currently around $3.1 million.


Raising taxes was also discussed. If raised to the maximum level allowed following the passage of a resolution stating the district would remain under the inflationary index, approximately $102,000 in new revenue could be generated.


 “We owe it to the taxpayers to say we’re running the school as efficiently as we can before we raise taxes and we’re not there yet,” said member Daryl Richardson. “Two things we can control are salaries and the pool.”
“In my time as an administrator, we have reduced total staff by 23 percent,” Holjencin said. “We’re pretty bare bones around here and a lot of us wear a lot of hats that the community might not know about.”


Six of the nine members were present for budget discussions, which included a one-hour executive session. Member David McManigle announced when the meeting was scheduled that he was unable to attend due to prior obligations. Also absent were members Robert Lininger and Rob Aversa.


 The board plans to continue discussing the budget at its next workshop meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. June 6. The preliminary budget is available for review by contacting the business office at the high school, through its expected adoption at the regular meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. June 16. Meetings are held in the high school library.