Holbrook School Officials Prepare To Do More With Less Next Year

By Tammy Gray-Searles
   A $15.5 million operations and maintenance budget approved June 23 by the Holbrook School District Governing Board will essentially require that more students be served in the upcoming school year using almost the same amount of money as last year.
   Last year’s budget was $101,390 less than the budget approved for the 2009-10 school year. Enrollment at Indian Wells Elementary School has been steadily growing, however, and more growth is anticipated in the coming year. The state will allow the school district to adjust its budget for growth, but is also offering less money per student than it has in past years.
   Business Manager Garry McDowell explained that in some respects Holbrook’s school district is fortunate to not be facing additional budget cuts, but citizens should still be concerned about decreasing funds for schools. According to information provided by McDowell, the 2009-10 state budget currently proposed by the legislature cuts funding by $91 per student. The proposed cuts are in addition to declining classroom site funds, which are based on certain sales tax revenues.
   In fiscal year 2008, the Holbrook School District ranked eighth in the state for per student spending, with an estimated $5,730 per student going directly into the classroom. The district has approximately 1,930 students, but anticipates a funding level based on 2,647 students in 2009-10. McDowell explained that the higher funding level is based on “weighted” student counts. Certain special needs students are counted as more than one student since they require additional spending. Based on the state formula, Holbrook qualifies for adding nearly 700 to its student count in order to pay for special needs students.
   The extra funds, however, help keep the budget just barely on track. McDowell noted that he has three big concerns with the 2009-10 budget.
   His first concern is that a state budget had not yet been approved when he offered these comments, and the school district’s budget is based on preliminary numbers released by the legislature. If the amount of state support per student is decreased in the final budget, the district’s budget will have to be reduced. Since McDowell based the budget on the lowest amount mentioned in any of the proposed budgets, he is hopeful that no further reductions will be needed.
   McDowell’s second concern is the continued downward spiral of classroom site funds. Site funds are used primarily to pay teacher’s salaries, but are also used for teacher performance pay. Site funds are based on sales tax revenues and are expected to drop by 40 percent in the upcoming fiscal year. McDowell explained that the budget approved by the school board includes a 40 percent decrease, but if they fall off even further, additional adjustments will be needed.
   Teacher’s salaries will remain the same, regardless of the drop in classroom site funds, and will be made up through reducing other areas of the budget. McDowell noted, however, that performance pay will decrease or increase in line with the classroom site fund revenue. In other words, for fiscal year 2009-10, teachers will likely receive 40 percent less performance pay than in the previous year.
   The third concern expressed by McDowell is that the legislature will repeat a required budget decrease mid-year. He noted that in fiscal year 2008-09, the legislature required the school district to reduce its budget by approximately $200,000 in February, part of the way through the fiscal year.
   “It was unprecedented,” he remarked. “In my 25 years here, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
   McDowell has a contingency plan in place if the legislature does decide to reduce school budgets partway through the upcoming fiscal year, but noted that it will cut into any planned capital improvement projects.
   Another plan is being put into place if the state repeats a move made earlier this summer and withholds payments to school districts. McDowell explained that in May and June the state didn’t have the money to forward school district payments.
   “They didn’t cut budgets, but they didn’t send all the money,” he said. “They can’t send what they don’t have.”
   The failed payments left some school districts in a bind, and they had difficulty making payroll. McDowell noted that Holbrook was just able to fund payroll without needing a line of credit, but just in case, one has been requested for any similar situations in the future.
   “We’re OK right now, but in the late fall we may have a cash flow problem,” he remarked.
   To create a cushion, McDowell explained that a higher property tax rate may be put into effect in the fall.
   A cut in transportation funding could also impact the 2009-10 budget if a program that allows the school district to work with parents to bring their students to bus stops is canceled. McDowell noted that the Holbrook School District covers 1,572 square miles, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island, and much of it is served only by dirt roads.
   “It poses a significant transportation problem,” he said. “This program is needed for rural education.”
   McDowell noted that he has been speaking regularly with state legislators to make sure they are aware of the needs of rural school districts. He also noted that there is a possibility that the school district could receive some federal funding that would help make up for gaps left in state funding.
   Regardless of the fluctuating economy and the state budget, McDowell said that students in the Holbrook school district will have the things they need for the upcoming school year. He noted that the most essential textbooks have already been ordered.
   “We ordered some,” he said. “Not as many as we normally would, but we’re already buying what we really, really need. There will not be kids without. The kids will have everything they need.”