The Suring School District will operate under a balanced budget for the 2015-16 school year, reversing a trend in which deficit budgets were the norm.
The district has been using its fund balance to cover expenses for the past five years; the last time a balanced budget was proposed was the 2009-2010 school year.
Initial deficits were initially proposed at $100,000 but grew to $300,000 and $470,000 the past two years.
Superintendent Kelly Casper, at the district’s annual meeting Oct. 26, presented a balanced budget of $6,508,900.
“Staff change is what we’ve done to balance the budget as best we can,” she said.
The changes included reassigning the director of curriculum to a special education position, reducing hours for teacher’s aides from full time to part time and not replacing a second-grade teacher. The district also hired personnel formerly contracted through Cooperative Educational Services Agency.
“We were paying the middle man to pay for their services. We brought those people to our district to be our employees instead,” Casper said.
A tax levy of $4,486,106, approved by a dozen residents at the annual meeting, was up by $275,771 from last year, or 6.55 percent. The tax rate will be $7.44 per $1,000 of equalized value, compared with $6.87 per $1,000 last year, meaning the owner of a $100,000 home will pay $744 in school taxes, up from $687 last year.
Taxpayers account for 69 percent of the district’s revenue.
“Much of our district is paid for by our taxes,” Casper said. “When you’re looking at the big picture, our revenue is coming from our taxpayers.”
This year’s tax rate was affected by the passage of an April referendum that allows the district to exceed the state-imposed revenue limit by $700,000, beginning this year and extending until the 2019-2020 school year.
Referendum funding has been used for the district’s phone system, copy machine and Chromebooks. The district’s five-year referendum plan includes money for a curriculum overhaul, teacher training, new electronic devices and infrastructure upgrades to support the wireless devices.
The district will receive $678,979 in state aid this year, $6,759 less than last year. Student enrollment is steady, but the district is receiving less funding per student from the state.
The official September student count showed an enrollment of 412 students, four more students in the building than last year.
“We are plateauing. We are not losing kids,” Casper said.
Another positive for the district is the repayment last year of a $306,525 roof repair debt.
“Our roof referendum is gone. We no longer have debt,” Casper said.
Casper used a pie chart at the annual meeting to show how expenditures were distributed in the district. About 42.5 percent goes to salaries ($2.8 million) and about 22.5 percent to benefits ($1.5 million). Next in line is transportation, at 7.6 percent ($495,000).
The following School Board salaries were set by voters at the annual meeting: president, $1,950; clerk, $1,900; treasurer, $1,750; and School Board member, $1,750.
The 2016 annual meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24.
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