Boundary News
School board agonizes, decides on one more try
Apr 15, 2004, 21:50
By Mike Weland
After an agonizing three hour meeting, the Boundary School District board passed two key motions; to run the $985,000 M&O levy one more time May 18, for a single year this time instead of two, and to implement drastic cuts that will shutter the outlying elementary schools should the levy fail.
From the outset, the five members of the board expressed the dire conundrum faced by the district; how to make the people of the county aware that what have been long perceived as threats are not threats at all, but a hard reality. After cutting programs, paring staff and instituting every cost-cutting device to be found for the past two years, the fate of the outlying schools hangs on what happens next month.
And the timing couldn't be more precipitous.
"We've been working on a long term plan that saw us upgrade the outlying schools," said junior high art teacher Tamara Bergstrand. "We are building a new high school and we're ready to re-locate the 12-year-old 'temporary' junior high. We're so close, but the bubble could burst."
Discussion was held on a subject wrung nearly dry, how to stretch the district's resources to make it through this particular hump to the downhill side.
High school principle Walt Piipo was tasked with presenting a "worst case scenario" of what the best option would be should a $1-million cut be made from a $9-million budget, and he proposed implementing a grade 5-8 middle school when school begins next fall.
But the problems associated with such a plan are immense. Because the new high school won't be ready until Christmas break, it would require double shifting. It would demand every inch of available space for classrooms, and would leave no room for electives such as shop, home ec, drama or foreign language.
Valley View principle Warren Santorro was charged with making the same recommendation for the lower grades, and the best solution he could arrive at was equally dismal; turning Valley View into a kindergarten through fourth grade facility for the entire county. And the thought of having kindergarteners from the outer edges of Boundary County on a bus for up to four hours a day to attend a half-day class, he said, made him recommend kindergarten be discontinued.
"The physical plant could handle the students," he said. "It could be done, but it's not what's best for the kids. If this is where the crisis leads we can do it."
Of the more than 70 people in attendance, only a handful spoke against running another levy.
"With the huge tax increase from last year for the new high school, the board should have considered this situation then," said patron Deanna Riffle. "A lot of property tax payers have fixed finances and can't afford the constant increases. It's blackmail."
Most of those in attendance favored re-running the levy just as it had been presented before.
"The average cost per taxpayer of this levy would be about $60 a year," said Pat Behrens. "That's a bargain considering what we all stand to lose."
Board members conceded it was distasteful to continue pressing the voters of Boundary County, but said it is a sad fact of life for the district that they rely on maintenance and operations levies to fund the programs students need. With declining state funds and increasing state and federal educational mandates, operating existing facilities and programs on funds provided by the state and federal governments is impossible, and attempting to do so puts the district at risk of falling to state control.
"Under state law," said board chair Tina Wilson, "if a school district attempts to run beyond it's budget, it can be taken over by the state, which will leave the voters no say and take away any local control. All it takes is a judge's order, and the judge establishes the levy the state says the district needs to operate."
School district superintendent Dr. Don Bartling brought to the meeting documents none of the board members wanted to see; a contingency plan for a lesser amount and a contingency plan should the levy fail entirely.
Taking an already bare-bones request, he gave options to prune even further, trimming guidance counselors, clerical staff, cutting technology personnel and funding for computer improvements. This proposal will cut the amount asked for to $828,000.
Should the levy fail entirely and the district is forced to rely solely on state and federal funding, the scalpel will fall on extra curricular activities, athletics and field trips, on replacing textbooks that haven't been updated in two years, on cutting the teaching and administrative staff and on closing Naples, Evergreen and Mt. Hall Schools and letting go of rural school support staff.
By doing that, the budget would meet the $728,500 anticipated revenue from the state and federal governments.
But even that might not be enough. Due to the funding timelines, the district is forced to prepare and certify its budget in June. State funding isn't guaranteed until August, but a figure for "anticipated" funding is provided to each of the state's school districts.
In each of the past two years, the difference between the amount anticipated and the amount actually received was over $100,000 to the benefit of the state's side of the ledger, meaning the district had no choice but to make cuts and put off necessary but non-essential expenditures, such as textbook replacement.
After considerable discussion and weighing options, board members made the unanimous decision to rerun a levy May 18; the last time a levy can be run before the certified budget is turned over to the state; they had a more difficult time determining the amount. Member Bill Hays made motion to run the pared-down levy presented by Dr. Bartling, but the motion died for lack of a second.
Moments earlier, teacher John Beck may have helped tip the balance with an impassioned speech, which he concluded with, "Yes, we are in a tough spot, but we could be in a great spot if the community knows what's at stake."
John Lindberg moved to set the levy amount at $985,000, and the motion passed with only Hays voting no. Then, after a brief discussion, Lindberg made a second motion, one much harder.
If the levy does not pass, he said, it will be time to implement the cuts presented by Dr. Bartling to operate solely within the budget provided by state and federal sources.