Adoption of the budget came after Lora Grippin was appointed to the board to fill the District 1 seat left vacant following the resignation of Cody Engelhaupt. Grippin was the only individual who turned in an application to fill the position.
“I care about kids,” she said when asked why she wanted to be part of the board. “I have three kids of my own and childcare for seven others. I care about their future.”
During a public budget hearing following her appointment there were no comments from the audience.
Total revenues for the 2013-14 budget are $16,107,406 and total expenditures are $16,487,229, with $479,769 coming from reserves.
After the public hearing, the board voted 6-0 to adopt a resolution for the FY2014 General Fund Budget and other fund budgets in the amount of $30,726,173, as outlined in the CDE (Colorado Department of Education)-18. Grippin abstained from the vote.
“What the CDE-18 complies, it complies all of the funds that the district has,” district finance officer Deb County explained.
Those funds include general fund, insurance reserve, capital reserve special revenue fund, designated purpose grants, other special revenue funds, bond redemption fund, capital reserve and capital projects funds, food service fund, after day school fund, pupil activity agency fund and the trust in other agency funds.
County noted part of the CDE-18 is forthcoming and will be used on the CDE's School View website, www.schoolview.org.
“One of the pieces on the School View, where it bases it on the per-pupil funding, it just takes into consideration what CDE is allowing us for the pupil money. It does not take into consideration what our assessed evaluation for Logan County,” she said. “That's why the per-pupil funding is still at $7,000-so many dollars.”
Summers explained the budget the board approved is just preliminary and they can revise it in October if they choose to.
The board also adopted a resolution relating to the Designated Purposed Grants Fund to have cash flow to pay expenses.
“Our federal grants and our state grants, the money is sent to us after we pay our bills and we have to have a cash flow; that's part of why we have district reserves,” Summers said. “The grants struggle with having enough money until after the fact to pay their bills.”
Under the resolution the board approved a $200,000 loan from the general fund to the grant fund, to pay the grant bills. Repayment on the loan must be made within six months after the close of the fiscal year.
In other business, the board approved, on first reading, revisions to several policies.
Policy BBBE, regarding unexpired term fulfillment/vacancies, was changed to reflect a change in the law requiring 90, not 60, days between the time a vacancy on the board occurs and the selection of a new board member.
Another policy, GBGC, regarding worker's compensation, was revised to state that when an employee is placed on an unpaid leave of absence, salary will not be discontinued, but adjusted using the state's computation calculation.
Lastly, policy GBJ, regarding personnel records and files, was revised to require employees to file a written request and schedule a review of their personnel records and files.
The board also continued discussion about a regulation, GCBC, regarding professional staff supplementary pay plans. Summers provided the board with the district's extra duty salary schedule and a page showing “how there are some things that are academic, that have just a straight amount of stipend attached to it for the academic work” and gave an example of a regulation.
Board members asked for more information on how pay for extra duty and other activities is calculated, how people request extra pay and get approved and how the cost of extra duty pay affects the budget. They also said they would like to have a conversation about what activities warrant extra pay and what don't.
The board plans to have a workshop to continue discussing these issues in late July or August.
Additionally, the board approved payment of the 2013-14 Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB) membership dues in the amount of $9,535. That is a $68 decrease from last year.
Under the consent agenda the board:
• Approved Derek Weingardt as head coach for boys basketball at Caliche Jr./Sr. High School, effective June 1;
• Approved the resignation of Tom Myers, health/PE teacher at Sterling High School, effective at the end of the 2012-13 school year;
• Approved teaching contracts for Paula Etl, science teacher at Sterling Middle School; Julee Meier, fifth grade teacher at Campbell Elementary; Lara Ratterree, ESL teacher at Ayres Elementary; and Molly Tomsick, third grade teacher at Campbell, for the 2013-14 school year;
• Accepted the SHS and Ayres Elementary summer school reports for June 2013;
• Approved the 2013-14 Local Consolidated Grant for submission to the Colorado Department of Education;
• Accepted the 2012-13 Sick Leave Bank Committee report;
• Approved the student handbooks for Ayres, Caliche Elementary, Campbell, SMS, Caliche Jr./Sr. High School and SHS, for the 2013-14 school year;
• Approved an agreement with Northeastern Junior College to provide instruction for students in auto tech and medprep;
• Accepted the superintendent and assistant superintendent's reports for June.
Contact Journal-Advocate staff writer Callie Jones at (970) 526-9286; firstname.lastname@example.org. Follow @cjones_JA on Twitter.