The Orcas Island School District (OISD) Board of Directors will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. today to consider the overall budget, and fund balance, which need to be addressed before any additional FTE is approved, according to OISD Board President Janet Brownell.
At the regular monthly school board meeting last Thursday, Director Scott Lancaster asked that the re-instatement of the teachers for the OASIS alternative K-12 program be removed from the personnel actions in the consent agenda for further discussion.
Lancaster said he was reluctant to approve the additional hiring due to delays in knowing the district’s fund balance, current enrollment figures and Governor Gregoire’s announcement on that day that the Washington State Legislature will be called back in November for a special budget session.
District Business Manager Keith Whitaker said the current estimate of the ending 2010-2011 fund balance was $207,738. Director Tony Ghazel (who participated in the meeting via videoconference) said that the estimated balance “will leave us at 4.8 percent [fund balance] and does not include full staffing.”
Whitaker told the OISD Board, “My recommendation would be any additional staffing (including that removed from the consent agenda tonight) would be predicated on sufficient additional enrollment to pay for it.”
OISD Superintendent Barbara Kline said that half of the staffing requested was for students already enrolled; additional staffing “won’t be added unless we have the students to pay for it.”
Brownell added, “We have to look at the district-wide student-teacher ratio, rather than focus on OASIS. The level of staffing in all our schools is something we will have to examine in the next few months. Is it sustainable given the remarkable drop in state and federal funding?”
A motion to table the additional staffing for the OASIS program (including that for current enrollment and “open” staffing for projected enrollment) passed.
Lancaster said that he and the board needed further study and clarification of additional staffing, enrollment and fund balance figures and the board agreed to meet on the issue again at the special meeting tonight, Sept. 28.
The meeting will be held at 5 p.m. in the School Library.
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