Driver education increase delayed until fall; administrative position may not be renewed July 1

In action delayed from the regular January meeting, members of the Rogers City Area Schools Board of Education cut $37,000 from the 2003-2004 budget Monday evening. Layoff notices and an increase in the cost of driver?s education were put on hold, but those postponements appear only temporary.

Chief financial officer Don Schaedig said the district, with a reduction of $74 per student in Gov. Jennifer Granholm?s executive order, will lose $51,200 from Lansing. That?s based on 692 students in the Rogers City district. Schaedig made the calculations with the finalized figures, which were necessary to bring the school year?s budget closer to the board?s stated goal of $100,000 loss to the general fund equity, while maintaining a board policy of having a fund equity of 20 percent. The fund equity stands at 22 percent following Monday?s action.

THE BUDGET AMENDMENT was prepared by Schaedig with assistance from the principals and the superintendent, and with the concurrence of the planning and finance committee, which met on January 20. Cuts include postponing the purchase of an $18,000 lawn mower for the second year in a row; reductions from technology capital outlay ($3,000); equipment replacement ($5,000); and board of education inservice ($4,000). ?Even though Don and I feel that we are in fairly decent shape, for a district of this size,? said superintendent Ed Schultz, ?given that percentage of fund equity, given things that are yet to come, it doesn?t look bright on the horizon.?

Schultz said the areas of concern remain increases in health insurance, frozen state aid allowances, declining enrollment, and the lack of contract agreements with two employee groups. He cautioned the board that the fund equity could dry up in a couple of years. ?Those things are biggies and could wipe out this fund equity in the matter of a couple of years,? Schultz said. ?Those things are uncontrollable, such as the wind today that has drawn all of the heat out of our buildings.? As a part of the budget amendment, an additional $5,000 was added for heating costs. Increases in rates and usage were reasons cited by Schaedig. There also was a dual enrollment increase of $8,000 on the list of new expenditures.

THE DISTRICT also saved money with the retirement of junior high/high school teacher Mary Carr, who has put in 28 years of teaching. ?The difference between the step that the retiring teacher (Carr) is on, versus a teacher at the beginning step, represents $7,000 in salary, social security, and school retirement,? said Schaedig. RCHS principal Jim Connell received a copy of a letter from Carr, the science/home economics teacher, January 13. Her retirement will become effective at the end of the month so she can tend to family matters. ?We hate to see Mrs. Carr go at this point in time,? Schultz said.

?Real classy lady,? said board member Norm Karbon. The current driver?s education fee of $145 was left the same for the rest of 2003-04, allowing the spring class to pay the same as the fall class, as state reimbursement is based on last year?s total driver?s education enrollment. Schultz said the cost will likely rise to $295 in the fall.

ALSO

UNDER consideration is the elimination of the building, grounds and transportation administrative position held by Bill Stypick. The contract will be kept intact until its expiration June 30, although there?s a possibility it may not be renewed by the board. There was talk of breaking the contract at the meeting earlier this month. If the position is eliminated July 1, Stypick?s duties will be redistributed to other staff as a cost savings for the 2004-05 budget, according to Schultz. Stypick spoke near the end of Monday?s workshop session and expressed his disappointment on how the situation has been handled.

?I was a little disappointed in the way the elimination of my position was brought up without anything being said to me,? he said. ?I felt a little bit slighted that nobody had anything to say to me until I read about it in the local paper. I was quite disappointed in that.?