Although the second meeting in each calendar month for the Park County School District 1 is usually considered more of a workshop, the board of trustees faced some heavy lifting Tuesday.

While it’s unclear what cuts the Legislature might make to education spending (see related story), the district’s goal when it began its own budgeting process was to free up roughly $2.5 million, said business services coordinator Mary Jo Lewis. That would be achieved between revisions and reductions, but Superintendent Jay Curtis was adamant in pointing out no one in the district would be involuntarily reduced from staff — the technical term for being let go.

The proposals for adjusting the budget show $613,142 in staff changes. They include retirements, resignations and restructuring some job descriptions and duties. (Restructuring is when a job changes from a position with benefits to two without benefits, or something similar.)

However, Curtis said the positions to be filled were still subject to “Powell standards.”

“We are very particular about who we place in front of our students,” he said. 

Lewis said it was very important the district remain aware of the supplant conundrum. The schools must make sure they are using federal grant dollars to add to — and not in the place of — state funding. While that may seem like splitting hairs, if federal dollars replace state funding, the state could later claim it was no longer responsible for funding those allocations.

There are four PCSD1 positions — instructional facilitators — that could be half or fully funded by federal grants, saving either $160,963 for half funding or $209,374 for fully funded by federal dollars.

Additional suggestions include reducing funds for board travel by $15,000 and for staff professional development by $25,377. That reduction would be replaced with federal Title II funding, which is earmarked for professional staff development.

The search through the budget found a community liason retained from four or five years ago, when there was a district website manager. Since that position is no longer needed, those funds were available for transition. 

‘Every little bit helps’

Another suggestion was the elimination of the sick leave investment program (SLIP) used by only a handful of personnel in the district. This allows a trade of unused sick days for retirement savings. It would tighten up the budget by $7,533.

“We were looking at $2 million,” Lewis said. “But every little bit helps.” 

More than a little bit could be scrimped by eliminating or reducing the print shop costs. Curtis said the equipment there is old and needs to be replaced or upgraded. Instead of undertaking the increased costs, $50,000 could be saved each year by closing it, offering the personnel other jobs in the district and utilizing other means of meeting print needs. 

Summer school for elementary students and credit recovery for high school students is also under scrutiny. It costs more than $108,000 each year and the results are minimal, according to research employed by educators.

“If push came to shove, I would not have a problem reducing summer school entirely to preserve school year instruction, “ Curtis said.

Activities costs could be trimmed by $30,000 annually by reducing the number of overnight trips teams take and asking booster clubs to fundraise to help pay for student athlete meals while they are on the road. As it stands now, Curtis said students pay for their first meal away from home and the district picks up the tab for others. However, he noted that is not the policy in neighboring districts. 

Also in the activity category, the suggestion has been made that participant level coaching could be moved off the coaching level stipend — about $5,000 per coach — and onto the activity stipend of about $1,000.

“Most people I know don’t coach for the money,” Curtis said. “I know I didn’t.”

Those savings would come to another $60,000. 

Operational budgets could be slashed by $202,095 while student resource officer funding can move from the school budget to federal funds available under Title IV, saving $65,000. 

These reductions come to about $1.4 million, but are only part of the equation employed to maintain the reputation for quality education Powell has earned.

New revenue

The district has been searching for ways to increase its income as well. For instance, the launch of a new virtual school is anticipated to bring in $450,000 with between 30 and 40 students. Charging participation fees of $20 for middle school students and $35 for high schoolers — with group savings for larger families — is estimated to garner $37,000.

Another income stream the district has never accessed is what is called indirect costs. These are the associated costs for administering federal programs. The money comes with allowances to cover those costs, but in the past the district has always absorbed them. If the district accessed the allowable fees, it would bring in $200,000 for COVID-19 relief grant administration and another $27,000 for the substance abuse and mental health services grant administration. There is an additional $70,000 available for reimbursement for special education, bringing the income total to $784,195 annually. 

Those changes in tandem would soften the budget blow to the district. 

“But if it gets really bad, we have our reserves. That’s why we have reserves, to allow us to make cuts over time and avoid destroying the culture of our schools,” Curtis said. “At all costs we must preserve what we have going on in the classroom, because what we have going on in those classrooms is pretty special.”

Education experiencing ‘wild ride’ in Legislature

Park County School District 1 Superintendent Jay Curtis gave the board an overview of the legislative session on Tuesday — a tricky business since that body was still discussing the educational funding bills before it.

“This has been quite the wild ride,” Curtis warned. He went on to discuss the two most important bills to education: House Bill 173 and its companion 174 and Senate File 143.

The House version of the funding for schools was on track to cut $138 million statewide, $2.8 million of that from PCSD1. Beyond the cuts, what worried Curtis — and board members — was the disparity in the impact of the cuts. For example, he said Sheridan County School District 3’s budget would be cut less than 0.1%, while in Powell that figure was about 10%. Tiny Cowley, in Big Horn County would be slashed up to 34%.

“Frankly, I don’t know how it got through as it is,” Curtis said. “I don’t see how it can be passed without legal actions, because the funding is not equitable and there are seemingly arbitrary cuts.” 

As the House version of the funding bill was coming up on its final vote Wednesday, there were 19 amendments attached. Curtis said he had never seen so many on a bill approaching its third reading. The bills will be in their final forms by April 2.