Dr. Feirsen Presents Final Portion of Proposed Budget

Story by Nicole Murphy

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen presented the final portion of the 2013-14 proposed budget during a Garden City Board of Education work session.

As of Wednesday, the proposed budget remained at $107,542,716, but because of an increase in state aid, the projected tax levy decreased to 3.13 percent and the projected budget-to-budget increase decreased to 3.19 percent.

Dr. Feirsen's presentation highlighted the final components of the instructional area of the budget, focusing primarily on technology and special education.

Two years ago, the district eliminated a full-time employee in the technology department. With its rapid advancement, Feirsen said the restoration of that position is necessary in the next year's budget.

"We did that as a money-saving matter, and we did it under the cliche of do more with less," explained Feirsen. "We've arrived to position in technology where it's not doing more with less - it's doing less with less. Because the demand is so great, and the workload keeps increasing as we add devices and add complexity and new applications, we can no longer keep up with those help desk requests."

Dr. Feirsen also spoke about possible changes to state funding in special education, as well as a shift in department staff members at the middle school and high school levels. A possible decrease in state aid and federal funding could have an impact on grant allocations, programs, staffing and materials within the department.

"We are a little concerned about sequestration," he said. "We have already been notified that we will get some reduction in funding from grant programs but we don't know exactly where that will occur. This is a concern and it's important for us to talk about this. It doesn't affect the budget, but it may affect some of the things we're able to add as a result of the grants."

Since receiving more state aid, Feirsen asked the board for feedback on restoring some of the previously eliminated co-curricular activities, such as school dances, clubs and supervision. If restored, the budget-to-budget increase would move to 3.25 percent and the tax levy would move to 3.19 percent. Board trustees felt it was a good opportunity to provide more for students if the money was there.

"Restoring it when we can restore it is something we tried to do last year and if we could do it this year, I think we need to do that," said Board of Education president Colleen Foley.

Dr. Feirsen also requested feedback from the board regarding pension smoothing. More than $2 million of the $3.3 million budget increase is due to pension payouts in 2013-14.

The Teachers Retirement System is allowing schools a provision where they could essentially borrow money over a seven year plan to lower the district's contribution rates. The actual rate of 16.25 percent would be reduced to 14 percent in 2013-14, resulting in a savings of about $980,000. 

Board trustee Angela Heineman said, "If we don't have to borrow to pay operating expenses, I'm not in favor of it."

The remaining board members agreed, saying that it is a gamble and they would only consider it if it was absolutely necessary.

The board will meet Tuesday for a final presentation of the budget proposal.