"Dry But Important" School Board Meeting Mulls Enrollment, Budget, Bond and Levy Situations

With enrollment in the Orcas Island School District’s Alternative Learning Experience (ALE) now at 110 for grades K-8, the OISD Board agreed at their regular meeting on Nov. 17 to add additional teaching staff to the program

With the additional staffing, the teacher/student ratio is now at 1/33.

Ben Thomas, Business Manager, said that the OISD fund balance is “not likely to be touched” by the additional staffing, as it is supported by the enrollment.

OISD Board Member Scott Lancaster cautioned about future fund balances being affected by re-funding for school buses and setting aside funds to cover the “stimulus money we’re not going to be getting,” as well as replacing Thomas’ services: Thomas works for OISD on a part-time basis, “on-loan” from the Educational Services District 189, which serves Skagit, Whatcom and San Juan counties.

“From here on out, we need to have a very good idea of how the decisions here will be affecting fund balance,” said Lancaster.

Board Member Keith Whitaker added that the board needs “to codify some amount of money as additional money to be set aside for next year.”

Thomas suggested the board “take a deep breath – I’d like to make sure we’re on track with nercs, [Non-employee-related costs]. I can guarantee that the staffing is warranted by the enrollment and then some.”

November enrollment was 504, “about 60 above what we budgeted,” said Thomas. He said that given the many out-of-area students enrolled in the K-12 OASIS program, there were “uncertainties.”

Elementary/Middle School Principal Kyle Freeman said “A good chunk of the enrollment being off-island is through networking… spread through communities of homeschoolers and OASIS.”

Chris Sutton, who will step in to the board position filled by Charlie Glasser next year asked if the enrollment numbers could “fall as quickly as they’ve jumped.”

After it was pointed out that some of the new students are coming from districts where there are waiting lists for alternative education students, where 40 to 70 students per teacher, and where the stipend amount to parents is lower, (OISD provides approximately $2,100 per student, of the $6,000 it receives from the state for K-8 students), Board Member Tony Ghazel said, “Our goal needs to be to bend backward to provide a quality education.”

He added that if most the increase from 440 projected enrollment to 504 actual enrollment are “OASIS students that don’t require a lot of infrastructure expense, we should be able to support those students quite well educationally.”

OISD Superintendent Barbara Kline said “We’re trying to look at a different way of providing education for the best possible service to people who learn in a different way.”

Whitaker and Board President Janet Brownell added that the quality of education involves providing support for parents and accountability for all students’ education.

Bond Planning

Trevor Carlson of Seattle Northwest Securities addressed the Board regarding Bond Issue Planning. The Board had previously asked for figures on both a $25 and $20 million bond, with variations on the terms of the issue, either, 20- 15- or 12-years.

The current bond levies 27 cents this year; next year it will drop to zero; and whatever levy amount is approved in 2010 won’t be levied on taxpayers until 2011.

A $25 million bond for a 20-year term is projected to increase by 37 cents per $1,000 property valuation,  over what property owners are currently paying on the existing school bond ( 27 cents per $1000 valuation) for a total interest cost of $15,712,104. For a 12-year term, the rate would cost an additional 67 cents/$1,000 or $7,411,276 in total interest. (See comment from Board President Janet Brownell below).

Carlson presented figures showing that even if the bond costs the higher amount (totaling $1.17 per $1,000 assessed value), OISD is well toward the lower range among local districts, with Blaine at 87 cents, La Conner at $1.83 and Nooksack Valley at $2.19.

The board decided at the meeting to direct Superintendent Kline to form a “Yes for Schools” bond committee.

Maintenance and Operations Levy

The Board discussed approving an Educational Maintenance and Operations levy with 600, 525 and 450 students as the projected district enrollment. They agreed to project enrollment at 600 students, given that if they project fewer students, they may have to “artificially cap enrollment because you won’t get the levy portion of that enrollment,” Brownell said following the meeting.

The board also considered whether to ask for a 2-year or 4-year levy. Ghazel said that a 4-year level would protect from a decline in property value assessment, “plus we won’t have to do it again for four years.”

However, with agreement that a 2-year cycle provides maximum flexibility in the board’s ability to plan for the district’s enrollment and funding needs, the board, the board approved a 2-year maintenance and operations levy to go before the voters in February 2010.

Budget

Giving his monthly financial report, Thomas pointed out that the balance sheet shows actual balances or revenue, with all encumbrances paid, including $43,510 year-end payables. The 2008-2009 was projected to grow by $47,000; the actual amount shows a $263,000 increase. Thomas attributed the higher number to the fact that the board put together a conservative budget the year before.

With a total fund balance growth percentage at 8.4 percent, Thomas commented that “8.33 is what an auditor would love to see.”

Carlson added that now the district is in a position to have a “good conversation with [bond] rating agencies.”