Schools look at $966,000 budget deficit

Kalispell Public Schools definitely will run an election this spring, but whether a levy request makes the ballot still is uncertain.

The district recently finished the year’s second school enrollment count, which, along with the October enrollment figures, will be used to help determine Kalispell schools’ funding for the 2010-11 school year.

Based on those numbers, district Clerk Todd Watkins estimates Kalispell’s elementary district is facing a $766,000 shortfall. The high school budget has a $200,000 deficit.

School officials are considering a number of options to make up the difference but may have to ask voters in May to approve extra tax levies. Regardless of whether a levy appears on the ballot, the district will hold an election. Three seats on the elementary board are up for grabs and one high school trustee position is up for election.

Anna Marie Bailey and Don Murray are nearing the end of their three-year terms on the elementary board. Rick Davis was appointed to an elementary position; the remaining two years of that term will appear on the ballot.

A one-year high school trustee position representing Somers, Lakeside and Kila will be on the ballot. Jean Barragan was appointed to that seat.

Those who would like to run for a school board position must notify the district office of their intent to run by March 25. Those running for elementary positions must live in the Kalispell elementary district; those interested in the high school seat must live in the Somers-Lakeside or Kila school districts.

The board must decide by that same date whether to seek levy approval on May 4, which means the next several weeks will be busy for school officials examining possible solutions to the budget deficit.

The shortfall doesn’t include retirements or resignations, Watkins told the board at its regular meeting Monday. He is aware of four retirements to date, but more teachers may decide to retire at the end of the year.

If they do, the district may choose to not fill those positions and save money through attrition.

Another option officials are considering is offering an incentive for early retirement, Watkins said. The district’s collective bargaining agreement with the Kalispell Education Association, the district’s teachers union, includes a 15-year obligation toward health insurance for teachers who retire with 30 to 40 years of service.

Offering retirement with health insurance for teachers with more than 40 years’ or not quite 30 years’ service is one option the district is exploring, Watkins said. To make that deal, the district will have to reach an agreement with the union.

Any agreement “has to help both sides. It has to help the district reduce its budget and help take care of the individual’s needs,” Watkins said.

Consolidating departments and positions is another potential budget-saving option the district already is implementing. Watkins’ office, the business department, is combining with the transportation and facilities department.

The consolidation already has eliminated at least one position: Facilities and transportation director Chuck Cassidy’s last day of work is in April.

Trustees also may choose to use program retention funds to help balance the general fund budgets.

Program retention funds are intended to help reduce deficits and lower general fund levies. They are used, Watkins said, “when we are in dire straits financially, which it looks as though the next two years are going to be in that category.”

Watkins told the board he expects to finish the first draft of the 2010-11 general fund budget Friday. The board will review it in the next few weeks.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.