ROGERS -- The School Board approved an operating budget of $129 million for this school year at its meeting Tuesday.
That number includes $66.5 million for teacher salaries, an increase of about 1.6 percent from last year. That increase is attributed to regular annual increases in the teacher salary schedule; no raises are included in this year's budget, according to Jake Haak, chief financial officer.
Operating expenditures
A breakdown by percentage of the Rogers School District’s operating budget for the 2015-16 school year:
• Teacher salaries: 54 percent
• Teacher benefits: 13 percent
• Classified salaries: 11 percent
• Debt payments: 7 percent
• Utilities and services: 6 percent
Supplies: 4 percent
Classified benefits: 3 percent
Equipment: 1 percent
Source: Rogers School District
The district's tax collection rate for last year was 101.9 percent, an unusually high percentage. The district typically crafts its budget with the expectation of a 90 percent rate, Haak said.
The unexpected collection amount allowed the district to put an additional $6 million into its building fund for this year. Putting that money toward employee raises would have been unsustainable, Haak said.
"We are hopeful we can do something (about raises) in the future," he said.
The district expects to end the 2015-16 school year with a fund balance of $21.3 million, which would be an increase of about $240,000 from the end of last school year.
The district has steadily increased its fund balance as a percentage of its operating fund from 8 percent to more than 15 percent within the past five years, Haak said. Administrators will try to keep the percentage at that level.
State funding is based on a School District's third quarter average enrollment, which Haak projected would be 75 students more than last year. Current enrollment is 15,098, nearly 200 students more than were counted during last school year's third quarter. A school district's enrollment typically declines a bit during the course of a school year.
Tuesday's board meeting was the last one for board president Jerry Carmichael, who decided not to run for re-election this year. Carmichael, who joined the board in 1999, was the board's most experienced member.
Fellow board members and Superintendent Janie Darr honored him during the meeting, which was attended by many of Carmichael's family members. Darr presented Carmichael a plaque with a gavel mounted on it.
"He has kept us all focused on our students, our teachers, our buildings, our futures," Darr said during the meeting. "And when we had the decision to go to a second high school, he worked very hard on that process to make sure our two high schools were equitable. He wanted us to have a Harvard and a Yale."
Carmichael also played an important role in the opening of the district's third high school, called New Technology High School, Darr said.
"Mr. Carmichael, we couldn't have done it without you. Thank you for your years of work on this school board," Darr said.
Lisa Anderson, a board member, said Carmichael has worked tirelessly over the past several months to create the Greer Lingle and Reagan Family Trust Fund, merging two funds the board controls into one endowed trust that will generate scholarship money for Rogers students.
In Carmichael's honor, board members raised more than $4,000 for the fund from his family and friends, Anderson said.
Carmichael said it had been an "honor and a privilege" to serve on the board. He thanked current board members and recalled specific former members from whom he had learned a lot, including John Boozman, now a U.S. senator.
"It's never been about a single board member. It's always been about a collective group," Carmichael said. "Stay focused on what's important."
NW News on 09/16/2015