BENTONVILLE — The School Board got its first look Monday at a list of proposals aimed at keeping the School District’s budget under control.
Sterling Ming, district finance director, presented 12 budget recommendations for the 2014-15 school year at Monday’s board meeting. The measures have a combined estimated value of $2.52 million to the district.
Those “tier one” measures include everything from eliminating up to 15 teaching positions through attrition to using online textbooks when possible.
Ming presented another set of nine “tier two” recommendations which did not come with a cost value, but Ming said the board should consider them in future years.
AT A GLANCE
Personnel Audit
The Bentonville School District paid $9,800 to Prismatic Inc. to conduct a personnel audit of the district’s secondary schools, including middle schools, which would cover grades five through 12. Prismatic is expected to make a recommendation concerning staff ratios and numbers when it submits its report. The audit report is expected to be complete by next month.
Source: Bentonville School District
The recommendations were developed through a process that began with a committee made up of 16 people including central office administrators, principals and teachers. That committee met about once a week during October and November to consider ways to increase revenue or cut costs.
The committee’s recommendations were forwarded to the district administrators, who refined the list and revised some cost estimates.
The proposal to eliminate 15 teaching positions through attrition would have the largest impact of all the proposed moves. It would save about $1 million.
Ming was in charge of the committee. He asked members to find at least $2.4 million in combined cost reductions and revenue increases.
Most of the 12 tier-one recommendations were aimed at cutting expenditures. An exception was the proposal to increase base rental fees on all facilities by at least 50 percent, with that revenue split between the school building and the district. Currently the school buildings keep all money raised through rental fees, Ming said.
At least two board members — Wendi Cheatham and Grant Lightle — expressed doubt about that idea, saying they thought it would deter many people from renting school facilities at all.
One recommendation was to reduce the number of planning days for elementary teachers each year from two to one, which would save about $30,000 spent on substitute teachers.
Another recommendation was to seek reimbursement for the cost of transporting about 600 students from school to the Boys & Girls Club in the afternoons. Being reimbursed for that program or cutting the program could save the district about $119,000.
“Some of these are not comfortable recommendations,” Ming said. “It’s within the board’s authority to modify any of these or add to these.”
The board’s next meeting is Jan. 7. Board members will have chances to discuss the recommendations in depth next month and might take action on them then. If they feel they need additional time, they may wait until February to act, Ming said.
Action by the board that may affect personnel employment must be made before April 1 to ensure employees receive full due process rights, Ming said.
Michael Poore, district superintendent, said he was pleased with the work Ming and the committee members did.
“I am pleased we can do this without any staff members losing jobs,” Poore said. “This helps our principals as they try to have positive cultures in their buildings.”
The district is under financial pressure because of looming cost increases related to health insurance and opening a second high school in 2016. Meanwhile, a new charter school in the city has drawn about 200 students away from district schools, which draws state money away from the district.
The district’s budget this fiscal year is $134.8 million, which was based on an anticipated enrollment of 15,300. Enrollment as of Dec. 4 was 15,026.