Yuma School District 1 accepts new budget

By a unanimous vote of 4-0 the Yuma Elementary School District adopted a budget for the 2008-09 school year at their governing board meeting Tuesday.

By adopting the $49,879,800 budget, the board set that amount as the maximum limit, Kerry Jones, District 1 chief financial officer, said.

"The completed fiscal year budget picture looks positive yet it is a reduction of $1.3 million from last year," Jones said.

Jones said the reason was there are 202 fewer students this year so the district receives less education funds from the state based on enrollment. Also the voters rejected the budget override several years ago that had provided an additional 6 percent to the budget or $954,000.

But because Proposition 301 passed in 2000, there was an increase of $860,000 from the state. Proposition 301 mandated each year school districts receive either the less than 2 percent increase or the price deflator percentage (inflation measure) which was 2.3 percent this year.

Sometime before the next board meeting in August the budget will be reviewed by the Meet and Conference Committee to possibly make recommendations but they cannot change the budget total, Jones said. The committee is comprised of five certified employees (teachers), five classified employees (para professionals) and five administrators (principals). The board can then accept or modify the recommendations.

"We budgeted the maximum amount but we haven't appropriated it yet and probably won't until December," Jones said.

That is because the recent budget adopted by the state included covering a $1.9 billion deficit, but projections are they need to cover a $2.1 billion deficit, Jones explained.

"So they'll probably come back and make $300 million in cuts," Jones said. "We have a contingency budget of $500,000. We don't obligate it, keep it in reserve, because the economy is probably going to get worse before it gets better."

Board member Maureen Irr, who was absent, did express her concerns by conference call. Irr said she wants to provide for salary increases, maintain a textbook fund to update source materials and also favored a contingency fund in case there is a spike in enrollment. Class size now is a manageable 26 students per class, she said.

Jones said that out of 1,300 full-time employees, which 600 are teachers or librarians, the district is still looking to fill 58 positions. In spite of a tight budget, the district is aiming to provide a salary increase of 1 percent or slightly more, he said.

Board member Gary Wright pointed out for the last six years teachers received only $630 annual raises and that the district cannot continue its dependency on Proposition 301 alone.

"The administration needs to make recommendations to fill the gap to provide competitive salaries to attract teachers to the district," Wright said. "I want a guaranteed salary so we can hire the best qualified teachers."

Greg Wilkinson, board president, said despite the slowing economy there will be enough for a small pay raise across the board, because the district has planned ahead. But he questioned whether the $250,000 annual textbook fund suggested by Irr was enough and whether the district might delay that allocation until the middle of the school year.

According to a previous article in The Sun, the average teacher salary in District 1 is $37,000, but $49,000 when benefits are included. The average administrative salary, which includes principals and vice-principals, was $64,000.

"If we're all in tune to the budget and looking a at student needs, then everyone can be a winner by providing quality education," Wright said.


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William Roller can be reached at
woller@yumasun.com or 539-6858.