The Woodland Public School Board is seeking community input on a proposal to close the anticipated budget gap in the coming school year.  Opportunities for this input will occur on Monday, April 12, at Yale school, 7:00 pm, and Monday April 19, at the WHS/WMS Commons, also at 7:00 pm.

The state of Washington is anticipating a $2.7 Billion revenue shortfall for the 2010 fiscal year.   Schools comprise nearly 50% of the state budget.   Woodland Public Schools' funding from the state WILL be reduced.  The total amount of that reduction is not yet known as the legislature has yet to approve a final budget.  Compounding the loss of revenue is the anticipation that our enrollment may decline modestly, as it did in the current year.  We anticipate reductions to be significantly less than last year when the Board of Directors approved $1.34 million in reductions.

In preparation for action on closing the anticipate Budget Gap, a Budget Advisory Team convened for three Wednesday evenings beginning February 24^th.  There were 18 committee members and four staff who supported the team's work.

The team consisted of the following volunteers:

The goal of the team was to formulate a recommendation to the School Board that will address the expected shortfall for the coming budget year.

In approaching this goal, we spent a session taking a "20,000 foot view" of the budget and determined to look at five options to close the budget gap.  These options included:  

1)     Staff reduction,

2)     Utilizing General Fund Unreserved Fund Balance,

3)     Utilizing State Forest money in the Capital Facilities Budget to pay for allowable expenses currently being supported in the General Fund.

4)     Targeted reductions,

5)     Across-the-board reductions.

On March 3^rd, the BAT studied and discussed at length, four of these considerations.  The following details were provided in the BAT briefing packet:

Consideration # 1 - Staffing Reduction

Based on estimates of enrollment decline for the 2010-2011 school year it is anticipated that four teaching positions will automatically be eliminated.   Because of the reduced numbers of students, these reductions will have negligible impact on class sizes or offerings.    Reductions beyond those driven by enrollment decline may be considered.   It is estimated that each full-time teaching position eliminated will result in savings of about $75,000.   Reductions beyond the four enrollment-driven will result in increased class sizes and, at the secondary level, decreased course offerings.

Consideration #2 -District Fund Balance

The School District maintains a fund balance in the general fund.  The purpose of the fund balance is three-fold; (1) Cash Flow (2) Rainy Day Fund (3) Planned large expenses.  The board has a goal of maintaining a "Healthy" Fund Balance of between 4% and 6% of budgeted expenditures.

Cash Flow:  The income to the district is not consistent.  Amounts vary from month to month.  The end of November and the end of March are months when we have very little cash.  Without a fund balance we would not be able to pay payroll and all of our bills during that month.  The following table shows our recent cash balance on a monthly basis

Rainy Day Fund:  The fund balance is essential to maintaining operations in the event of unexpected surprises or crisis.  Every year things happen that create unexpected impacts on the general fund budget.  Examples of this are:  unexpectedly high absenteeism on the part of staff due to severe illness, pregnancy, etc.; failures of equipment that require significant money to replace (boilers, furnaces, etc); unexpected significant dips in enrollment that sharply reduce revenues.

Planned Large Expenses:  Two years ago a reading adoption for grades 3-6 cost the school district $125,000.    A K-12 Math adoption could cost upwards of $200,000.   The fund balance can be reserved and built over time to plan for, and save for, these expenses over the span of multiple years.

Through conservative budgeting and expenditures over the course of the last few years, the General Fund Balance has grown significantly.  The following table shows the growth of the fund balance and the fund balance as a percentage of expenditures:

It is expected, given the growth in fund balance this year, that if revenue and spending were to remain consistent, the fund balance would continue to grow to over 8% in 2010-2011.

Consideration #3-State Forest Funds

The District receives State Forest money from timber sales within the school district.   These funds are deposited by the Cowlitz County Treasurer in the Debt Service Fund.  The funds are then used to pay off voter approved bonded debt.   The result is a decrease in the taxes paid by local taxpayers for this debt.

Forest funds received by the district are limited, and under the current economy decreasing.   The table below shows collections over the last five years.

Cowlitz County allows us to transfer the Forest Funds into the Capital Projects Fund for use within the rules of that fund.   Capital Projects Fund (CPF) rules are restrictive.  In recent years the state has allowed districts to utilize CPF funds for some limited technology expenses, such as purchase of new technology, associated software, and subscriptions. 

It is estimated that approximately $235,000 of expenditures currently paid on an annual basis from the General Fund (GF) could be paid using these State Forest revenues.

Consideration #4- Targeted Adjustments

Last year, the School Board approved $1.34 million in reductions.   These reductions were primarily targeted.   Most areas of the school district were studied and recommendations for reduction were largely made based on a few different considerations.  1) Perceptions of "value added" to the core mission of the district (e.g., reductions in Community Education Program vs. Reductions of Classroom teachers), and; 2) Prioritizing program for students in the classroom (e.g., reductions of nursing, ESD Support and print center over classroom teachers)

Many within the school district believe that a majority of the "low lying fruit" has already been harvested with these reductions and further significant targeted adjustments much more difficult.  (This includes both reductions of expenditures and increases to revenue.)

There are certainly targeted options available for further consideration. Perceptions of impact of these options vary depending on perspective.

Consideration #5- Across the Board Adjustments

Last year, the School Board approved $1.34 million in reductions.   In some cases the reductions were "across the board" without targeting specific areas.   The best example of this is the 20% reduction to all school and department discretionary budgets.    In a few cases, reductions were made that were a "hybrid."   For example, the technology support department was asked to reduce about 15% from their budget (in addition to the 20% reduction to all departments).  The departments came back with a proposal for reduction that creatively spared reductions to staff positions.

One consideration would be, to identify an amount that needs to be reduced from the budget (say 5%, for example) and ask each building, department, etc. to identify how this will be done, whether through the further reduction of discretionary spending, the reduction of staffing, or a combination of these.

The consensus of the team on March 3^rd was that the district should consider utilizing a blend of approaches.  The team supported the use of a conservative amount of the fund balance and a more generous amount of forest funds was preferable to additional dramatic reductions to staffing, or program budgets. 

On March 10^th the team utilized an electronic worksheet to make determinations of how cuts should be structured at various levels of funding reduction, ranging from $500,000 to $1,000,000, in $100,000 increments.   The team was given a floor parameter for certificated staffing.  I shared with the team that I would not recommend a budget in which staffing was significantly higher than would be justified by enrollment.  With enrollment declining, as it has been, the certificated reduction was a minimum of four, which can be achieved through attrition.   The team could, if they wished, recommend a higher reduction in certificated staff.

At the end of the 90 minute meeting the team achieved 100% agreement on structuring the solution to present to the board.   Because the State budget work has not been completed by this writing, the level of reductions to Woodland Public Schools is unknown.  The team has developed six options, in $100,000 increments

BUDGET ADVISORY TEAM RECOMMENDATION  3/22/10: