Regional School Unit 40 Board of Directors met the district’s new business manager at the start of their Jan. 3 meeting, following a request from Chairman Danny Jackson that the board and district administrators recommend students for recognition.
“It seems, sometimes, like all we recognize are sports,” Jackson said.
Business Manager Karla Miller, of Washington, was hired in November to replace R. Scott Wyman after Wyman resigned to spend more time with his daughter in Southern Maine.
Miller received a two-year contract with the first year’s salary set prorated at $75,000; with benefits aligned with other administrators, and the second year salary to be negotiated.
In her report, Miller told the board, district finances are in line with expectations, with approximately half of its general fund revenues received and 51.5 percent of projected expenses spent.
Miller said she and Supt. Susan Pratt discussed Gov. Paul LePage’s Dec. 27 curtailment order that cut $132,704 from the state funds destined for RSU/MSAD 40 for the current budget year.
As she passed budget documents out to the board, Miller said she and Pratt have designated certain lines in the budget to be encumbered, “so we won’t spend more than we’ve received.” She said she and Pratt have discussed those budget lines with the relevant administrators.
The largest cut came in the line for superintendent’s contingency spending, a reduction from the $50,000 that was originally budgeted to $10,000.
Pratt said the district received unanticipated funds, in the form of $9000 in special education seed money, reimbursement in federal Medicaid dollars the state distributes for special education students from outside the district. Pratt said Jan 7 that these funds came after a statewide Medicaid audit.
Another $9000 was a refund “based on an employee revenue stream,” she told the board. She later said that revenue is “a reimbursement that should have come in during the last fiscal year and did not.”
“This will not impact and did not impact this budget year in any way other then to create more revenue to use in the next budget cycle.” Pratt said.
She said most of the $42,800 budgeted in anticipation of borrowing to cover a lag between spending commitments and the revenue that covers those costs was not needed. The interest line was reduced by $35,000.
“We are in good shape with cash flow right now,” Pratt said. “Because of that, minimal borrowing has been needed thus the interest account has a strong balance. We do not anticipate the need to borrow in anticipation of revenue for the rest of the fiscal year.”
“It seems like the director of instruction line got hit pretty hard,” board member Lynda Letteney, of Waldoboro, said. She pointed to cuts in stipends for professional training that reduced the original $33,000 allocation for stipends by $15,000. Pratt said the district also receives federal funds for professional development.
The director of instruction’s budget also saw reductions totaling $28,704 from software and staff development.
Other budget cuts proposed to meet the curtailment order included $14,000 from the technology department for repairs and maintenance, equipment leases and communications.
Pratt said Director of Instruction Kimberly Schroeter offered the reductions. Schroeter said her department is in good shape because the previous budget included funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as stimulus funds.
“We won’t have that excess again,” Schroeter told the board.
Pratt said she made the original request because Schroeter was in her first budget development cycle last year.
Miller presented a schedule of budget committee meetings and suggested the board hold at least one meeting at each of the district’s seven school buildings. That suggestion and one from board member Ann Donaldson of Union, that meetings be no more than two hours in duration, were both supported by the consensus of the board.
Budget meetings have been scheduled for every Tuesday in February and March, continuing through Apr. 9. The board must adopt a budget by Fri., Apr. 12.
The annual district budget meeting is scheduled for Tues., May 28 and the district-wide referendum vote is set for Tues., June 11. The board will vote on the schedule at their next regular meeting.
In their reports on activities at the schools, principals told the board about changes they are making to provide more security against unauthorized intruders. These included keeping doors locked during school hours and asking teachers to close and lock classroom doors when students are in the room. Staff members now wear keys on lanyards.
Schools are also reviewing their lock-down procedures and some administrators are considering purchasing wireless intercom systems so that visitors can contact front office staff to gain admittance. The board will continue to review such changes.
The next meeting of the RSU/MSAD 40 Board of Directors will take place Thurs., Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Miller School in Waldoboro.
