Charles City school board approves proposed budget, CIP for 2018-19

Charles City school board members followed the recommendation of Superintendent David Gaston, approving proposed budgets for operations and the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for FY2018-19.

Board members convened Tuesday night to discuss the options. After receiving no feedback on the proposed budget and only one comment about the CIP, school leaders voted 4-1 to approve the $10.8 million proposal for school operations. By approving the proposal, it will now be presented to county supervisors.

Gaston presented a budget of $10,834,747 to school board members for the 2018-19 fiscal year as part of the Jan. 16 regular meeting. Of that amount, approximately $9,872,346 is money for the school regular fund. The self-sustaining fund is budgeted at $498,854, the food service fund at $402,932, and textbook fund is $60,615. The proposed number is an increase of $756,685 from the current year’s figure, roughly a 7.5 percent increase in overall expenditures. Of the $10.8 million figure, the schools are requesting a local contribution from the county of $6,018,471. That amount is $755,587, or 14.35 percent, of what the county is providing the school system for the current year ($5,262,887).

Gaston commented at the Jan. 16 meeting that an increase in the Local Composite Index (LCI) will cost the schools $136,000 in state funding, a number he hopes local contributions to assist in. The proposed budget also looks to provide raises to teachers, bus drivers, instructional assists, food staff members, and other school employees. New positions of a school psychologist, intervention specialist, math specialist, and two additional car drivers for special education transportation are part of the new budget.

When it came to the proposed local contribution for the new budget cycle, at-large representative Steve Fuhrmann said that he believes the request for more than three-quarters of a million dollars was too much of an ask from the county.

“Based on providing a higher base salary for teachers, increase raises to bus drivers, and a minimal salary of $10 an hour, that would cost around $218,000,” Furhmann said. “I believe that is more of a reasonable ask as $755,000 is just too much.”

Preston Adkins, another at-large representative, understood Fuhrmann’s position but believed the schools are focusing on their needs.

“We have to provide the tools for our kids to succeed,” Adkins commented. “In order for them to be at their best, they need the tools, no matter how big it is.”

District 3 representative Martha Harris’ comments revolved around the schools offering a competitive education despite dwindling enrollment numbers.

“We can’t control the number of kids that are in our school system,” she said, emphasizing unfunded mandates handed down by the state. “The only thing we can do is control the education part. We wouldn’t be support these kids if we didn’t support this budget.”

With a harsh winter affecting the physical school structure, a decision was made at the Feb. 6 meeting to ask for additional funding from county leaders to assist with the upcoming CIP. At that meeting, a deep discussion took place, resulting in the schools to request an additional $1 million to help with what is being deemed as “much needed repairs.” The schools were budgeted to receive approximately $1.3 million in this year’s FY18-19 budget according to the county’s five-year CIP.

In the school’s original CIP, major budget line items include renovations to the high school’s common area ($252,340), two new school buses ($194,000), a complete re-stripping and replacement of the high school track ($159,181), renovation of the Blue Wing at the elementary school ($119,981), and classroom instructional technology upgrades at the elementary school ($98,400). As the result of winter storm damage that shut down the schools for eight additional days, school leaders are asking for additional funding to replace HVAC Units in classrooms ($120,000), HVAC units in the high school gymnasium ($110,000), cooling towers at the high school (two each at $105,000), and boilers (two each at $96,585). More items that were added include HVAC units in each school cafeteria (two each at $65,000), HVAC units at the high school library ($72,000), HVAC units at the elementary school multipurpose room ($60,000), and a boiler for the gymnasium ($48,293).

School board members unanimously agreed with the CIP proposal, voting 5-0 in favor of the recommendation proposed by Gaston. Each member agreed that the 26-year old facility had enough “band-aids” for repairs and needed upgrades to keep classrooms warm in the winter and cool during the spring.

The school board will present their budget next Tuesday (Feb. 27) at part of the meeting of the county’s board of supervisors.