Schools hope for shortfall of only $617,575

Kalispell school board trustees meet Tuesday to hear proposed cuts to alleviate the deficit the district anticipates in 2011-12.

The size of that shortfall varies and won’t be certain until the Legislature agrees on a school funding plan that won’t get Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s veto. Kalispell Public Schools’ deficit could be anywhere from $600,000 to almost $1.4 million.

The options board members will see Tuesday don’t include the so-called “sacrificial lamb” trustees had directed school officials to look for at a special meeting in March.

At that meeting, the district was reeling from the defeat of its $6 million building reserve and technology levy request. Without that money, school officials estimated it would take an additional $435,000 from the general fund budget to pay for necessary building reserve and technology projects. That pushed the district’s projected deficit to about $1.4 million, based on current funding law.

But the shortfall might not be as bad as district officials feared.

The school funding plans that have circulated through the Legislature to date have all had about the same impact on Kalispell schools as the budget the governor presented in November, Superintendent Darlene Schottle said. For that reason, the district is using numbers based on the governor’s budget to make money-saving recommendations to the board.

“Based on different sources from different areas, it is our assumption [the deficit] could be that amount of money,” about $617,575, she said.

Since the shortfall might not be as high as anticipated, the recommendations don’t include the half-million-dollar item trustees had instructed Schottle to look for in making budget cuts. Board members had said the district should consider a dramatic cut to its alternative high school, vo-ag or activities programs.

Based on that direction and input from a community survey the district conducted this winter, school officials have recommended $100,000 be cut from the high school activities budget. Schottle said Friday she didn’t have the details of that cut but that they would be presented at Tuesday’s meeting.

Not replacing retiring staff members and energy savings boosted primarily by the biomass boiler at Glacier High School also are included in first-tier reductions in the high school budget.

The district can save an additional $282,000 without having to lay off employees by not replacing one noncertified employee who is retiring, reducing special education and Title I positions that were partially funded with one-time-only federal stimulus dollars, and other reductions.

Tier three reductions go deeper and would require some layoffs. But Schottle was hopeful the budget situation wouldn’t be that dire.

“If it looks like we hope it’s going to look, we will replace eight positions, but we will be able to do it through retirements and nonreplacement of current positions,” she said.

That includes two supervisory positions in the central office. The district no longer would have a custodial supervisor to oversee the janitorial staff; instead, that role would fall to building administrators under Schottle’s supervision. The central office also would modify the position that runs its warehouse supplies and purchasing, Schottle said.

The district also would not replace one certified teacher, one grounds crew member and four classified employees, she said.

The high school district does have some help available. There is $309,000 in program retention funds, a rainy-day account Kalispell schools set aside several years ago.

There is also some money left over from the last high school building reserve levy, which Schottle hopes the district can use for emergency building projects. She will recommend the district not spend any general fund dollars on building maintenance and instead rely on the leftover contingency money for emergencies.

Some technology expenses, including renewing software licenses and the monthly Internet bill, will have to be included in the general fund.

The elementary district’s budget is not as short as the high school’s, and school officials hope that first-tier reductions will take care of the deficit. Those cuts include savings from retiring staff, more energy-efficient buildings and central office consolidations.

Second-tier reductions include reducing positions that had been partially funded by one-time-only stimulus money and reducing the Kalispell Middle School activities budget by $35,000.

But, like the high school, the elementary district has rainy-day money that could eliminate the need to make those cuts, Schottle said. There is $373,000 available in the elementary program retention fund.

One recommendation Schottle won’t make Tuesday is asking voters to approve an operational levy.

Trustees already have voted to not ask for levies at the May 3 school election, but because the Legislature has not yet finalized a school funding plan, the school board could call for levy elections after the traditional election day. That isn’t an option Kalispell school officials are recommending.

“We don’t think it would be well received by the community at this time,” Schottle said.

She and other school staff will discuss the proposed budget cuts in detail at the next regular school board meeting Tuesday in the Kalispell Middle School library.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 5 p.m., but the budget discussion won’t happen until after an expulsion hearing, which will take place in closed session.

The outline of the proposed budget cuts is available at www.dailyinterlake.com.

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