School district budget approved

Posted 7/30/15

“The district continues to be in excellent financial condition while improving the educational learning environment for our students,” wrote Mary Jo Lewis, coordinator of business services, in a report to the Park County School District No. 1 …

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School district budget approved

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Powell District remains in ‘excellent financial condition’

The Powell school district recently adopted a $25.9 million budget, covering everything from teachers’ salaries to technology to tuition for a group of students living in Yellowstone National Park.

“The district continues to be in excellent financial condition while improving the educational learning environment for our students,” wrote Mary Jo Lewis, coordinator of business services, in a report to the Park County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees. The board unanimously approved the 2015-16 budget on July 15.

Lewis noted that most of the budget — around 60 percent — goes toward classroom instruction. Another 9 percent goes toward instructional support, such as counselors, speech pathologists and nurses. Twenty-eight percent is spent on general support, such as operations, transportation, administration and maintenance. The remaining 2 percent goes toward a budget transfer for other funds for instructional facilitators and technology purchases.

Lewis said budgeting decisions are based on the district’s strategic goals to increase student achievement and for teaching and assessing for learning.

“When we expend out of our budget, we’re expending directly toward our goals,” she said.

The district expects to spend $14,712 per student in the coming year. That’s just a slight increase from what it spent per student last year.

Lower local revenue

School district leaders anticipate a decrease in local revenue from property taxes, due to a drop in the assessed valuation, Lewis said.

Revenue from a 25 mill levy on property in the local

district is anticipated at $6.15 million for the coming year, about $50,000 less than last year. The 6 mill county levy is expected to provide $2.2 million — a roughly $70,000 decrease from last year.

While local revenues are lower, “we’re going to pick up that difference in state money,” Lewis said.

The Wyoming School Foundation Program provides a guaranteed level of funding for the school district, based on a formula that takes into account the district’s enrollment, assessed valuation, class sizes and many other factors.

“The safety net is the state,” Lewis said. “That’s why it’s a little bit different for us than it is for cities and counties. We actually have a funding formula that has a base, with the foundation guarantee.”

However, that doesn’t mean the guaranteed level will remain the same. Legislators are looking at recalibrating school funding in the state.

For the coming year, the state foundation will provide around $15.3 million to the Powell district — about $1 million more than the previous year. Most of that increase is due to an external cost adjustment approved by legislators this year, which allows raises for employees based on inflation. The addition of about 23 students in the Powell school district also led to more state funding.

As in years past, the state will continue to fund special education and transportation costs at 100 percent.

The state also is reimbursing the Powell district for around $500,000 to pay for the education of students living in Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. The students are included in the Powell school district, but will continue to receive their education in Gardiner, Montana.

Last year, Powell school leaders weren’t sure when they would receive reimbursement from the state for Mammoth students, so they anticipated spending that money from reserves. Thanks to a legislative action, the district received the money in the past fiscal year.

Last major capital construction project

The $11.2 million capital construction budget includes the completion of the new Powell Middle School. Demolition of the old building is underway, and the new middle school is expected to be finished in 2016.

For the first time in more than 10 years, the Powell school district doesn’t have any other major building projects on the horizon.

School leaders started planning for the new high school in 2004, which opened in 2008. A new Southside Elementary School opened that same year. Since then, the district also has built a new Westside Elementary School, renovated a remaining section of the old Powell High School and constructed the new middle school.

“It is wonderful that we’ve had state funds to allow us to build these facilities,” Lewis said. She added that it will be nice to be able to take a breath after multiple back-to-back construction projects in recent years.

“It takes a lot of extra time when you’re dealing with construction projects,” Lewis said.

She said school leaders have learned something new with every building project.

“We took the things we could improve on and used that in the next building and then in the next building,” Lewis said.

The district will still have some major maintenance projects in coming years, but no building projects are planned in the immediate future. The capital construction budget includes $237,500 to purchase 19 acres of agricultural land in Powell for a potential new elementary school, but that is “still years down the road,” Lewis said.

Reserves remain steady

The district doesn’t plan to take any money out of its $5.4 million reserve fund in the coming year.

Cash reserves would allow the school district to operate for about three months without any revenue coming in, Lewis said.

The district continues to stay under the limit that the state allows for cash reserves.

“I think we’ve spent our money very wisely,” Lewis said.

Employees again received salary and benefit increases. Certified staff received at least $1,500 more on their base salaries, while support staff received an additional 25 cents per hour on their base salaries. Employees also received step and lane increases on the salary schedule, which vary based on an employee’s certifications, years of experience and other factors.

“The district was able to realize some savings through replacement of retired employees that were at the top of our salary schedules with staff that initially are not as costly to the budget,” Lewis wrote in her report.

For the fourth year in a row, the school district will not increase the cost of school lunches. The district has experienced increased food costs with new federal guidelines, but they have been able to keep the price of lunches down, thanks to careful budgeting and ordering by food service staff, Lewis said.

No one from the public spoke at the budget hearing on July 15. Board members thanked Lewis for all of her work on the budget.

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