School Grapples with Budget, Regs and Roof

Booster Club and Education Foundation Keep Programs Alive

Much of the regular Orcas Island School District board meeting on Thursday night, March 22,  dealt with how to move forward in the face of new state education funding formulas, enrollment uncertainties, and the eternal search for expense cuts and revenue generation.

A highlight of the evening was the acceptance of $6,500 from the Orcas Island Education Foundation (OIEF) to re-instate bus service on Fridays. The OISD had announced earlier this month, that beginning March 23, Friday bus service would have to be cut to make up for a lack of funds for this school year.

OIEF Board President Janet Brownell accepted the board’s thanks for the donation, saying that OIEF was able to make donations due to its fund-raising efforts, and asked that everyone concerned about the schools help with the May 26 Fundraiser at Camp Four Winds.  “It’s our one fundraiser a year and we need volunteers. If you can’t afford  if you can’t afford the $40 ticket cost ($75 for  couple), please volunteer for the event.” (To sign up for the event, go to www.oief.org)

The Booster Club also kept the Athletics Program alive, donating $866.67  from booster club to fund the Athletic Director’s salary for the month of March. Booster Justin Paulsen reported that the club is  raising money for spring sports, and also promoted the Booster Club’s April 1 Fundraiser. “It’s a cool event — doing nothing and staying home,” he said, and urged those who enjoy the extra time and money created by the non-event to go to the Booster Club’s site: www.orcasboosters.org and donate.

Another positive note was the announcement by OISD Business Manager Keith Whitaker that a line of credit with Key Bank was being established as a source for paying current bills. “At this point it doesn’t appear we need to use it, but it’s there,” he said.

School enrollment also increased by 10 students last month, and Whitaker reported that tax levy funds are beginning to come into the OISD’s revenue account; he expects that $500,000 will be generated.

Still, working to keep a handle on finances for this year, while building a budget for next year, made up the bulk of the regular board meeting.

Whitaker reported that next week, after the payroll has been adjusted, the district will be able “to project out to the end of the year to see how the fund balance ends up.”

Questioning by OISD Board Chair Tony Ghazel brought out that $28,000 in Board expenses included $12,5000 to Mahlum Architects for their design work for the School rebuilding bond proposals. Because the bond issue didn’t pass, that cost must come out of general funds. Also on the horizon is a required audit, which cost the OISD about $28,o00 last year.

In a special meeting with the Commissioners from the Orcas Island Park and Recreation District (OIPRD), they  urged the school district to sign a temporary lease agreement for Buck Park, so that the Park/Rec group could go ahead preparing the fields for a busy sports season. Both local districts have been hampered by state delays in authorizing and finalizing the transfer of Buck Park from the school district to OIPRD. (See post by Ken Brown,  Park & Rec Proposes Lease to Run Buck Park ).

Then there was the continuing saga of the Orcas High School gym roof. Facilities and Transportation Director Dave Johnson gave an update to the High School gym roof situation, outlining two “unrelated issues.”

The first he said, was working with Savage Roofing, “to come up with way to fix the roof’s continuing leaking.” Johnson said local contractors were inspecting the roof when a sudden hailstorm indicated that the precipitation pooled in flat areas.  He will obtain a written proposal for repair, and said there is no pricing available yet, but he expects the cost to be “around $3,000-4,000. A bid will be sent to Savage Roofing, saying “this is how we’d like to see it fixed,” Johnson said.

The second issue is more pressing, Johnson said.  While checking the roof to verify that the wallboard was secure, local contractor Justin Paulsen noticed rotting sheeting. Further investigation showed that the ventilation of the roof is not what had been planned, and is trapping moisture inside the roof. “If the trusses are damaged, we’ll have to take the whole roof off,” said Johnson. He notified the board that he was researching the costs for fixing the ventilation.

Justin Paulsen, who with Clyde Duke inspected the roof and who reported on the ventilation problem to the OISD board last month, urged the Board to authorize roof repair “yesterday.” He added “both Clyde and I recommend that the OISD obtain the services of WeatherHold, who looked at the original roof problem.

“That’s a fix that needs to happen asap, outside of a bond issue,” Paulsen said. OISD board member Scott Lancaster agreed to work with Johnson, School and  Superintendent Barbara Kline on addressing the roof safety-ventilation matter

Other considerations in the budgeting discussion that ensued were enrollment assumptions, state funding allocations that were determined this past February,  staffing, the use of levy funds and assumptions,

Whitaker explained that basic education is a mix of grant funding , and multiply coded teachers, classified and certificated staff, and that basic education was not yet included in his reports. Those reports did address budgets for

• Administration, showing a net loss of $45,889;
• Transportation, with a $23,000 deficit;
• District-wide services (not including maintenance and utilities), showing a  loss of $179,527
• Maintenance (Whitaker reminded the board that maintenance funding is given according to enrollment, not the size of the district “plant” or buildings.)

A short discussion near the close of  the meeting concerned cancellation of the district’s technical support contract with Educational Services District 189. That contract for $4,000 was deemed of marginal value by the Technical Committee, who considered that technical support is now available directly to the user as easily as it is provided through the ESD.

After hearing from Elementary/Middle School Principal Kyle Freeman, Board Chair Tony Ghazel wanted further research on the situation.

Board member Chris Sutton spoke in favor of applying the funds elsewhere rather than keeping the technical contract which provides for three hours of technical support a month and is often unused. “Three hours per month won’t help if the whole system blows up,” Sutton said.

The board agreed to table the discussion about the contract to next month.

At the request of  Superintendent Kline, the Board scheduled a budget workshop for Monday, April 23 at 5:30 p.m. “to bring in more reports and data in doing the minimum education plan.”

Public Comments:

During the Public Comments portion of the meeting, Kindergarten teacher Pam Jenkins, asked the board to maintain smaller class sizes in Kindergarten. “I know it’s hard; but what we have now is really great. It would be hard to go back to half-day.”

Jenkins also urged the board to continue the full day Kindergarten program.

Parent Maricruz Erickson  thanked the Orcas Islaned Education Foundation for funding the bus transportation on Fridays for the rest of this year.

Substitute teacher, bus driver and parent Cheryl Jackson spoke of the “grumbling,” she has heard from parents  “who  don’t  come forward to ask about problems.” She said she understands the dilemma of both parents and the OISD in addressing school funding. ” I don’t have an answer I’m here to express my frustration at hearing from angry parents; people fed up with things being cut.

“I’d like to be helpful. It’s just not good over here.”

The next regular board meeting will be on Thursday, April 26.