Pine-Richland School Board Divided on $63 Million Budget

The Pine-Richland School Board split 6-3 Monday over its proposed $63 million budget that calls for $1.5 million in cuts and no tax increase.

Directors Christine Misback, Kevin Nigh and Dennis Sundo, who also serves as treasurer, voted against the proposed budget. They have consistently said reductions in the budget cut too deeply.

Other directors support the cuts to avoid a tax increase.

Specifically, the board voted to approve advertising the proposed budget for the 2011-12 school year. It now will be available for the public to view on the district's website and in the

Revenues and expenditures could still change before the board takes its final vote on June 13 and sets a tax rate.

The school board's finance committee will meet again at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 16, to discuss what goes in and what comes out of the multimillion-dollar budget.

One thing that will go back in are "supplementals."

After a public outcry about cutting the stipends, the school board Monday put them back in with the caveat that a student fee would be charged to cover the cost.

Previously called a "pay-to-play" fee, the district changed the term to "student fee" to note that the fees will cover participation in everything from athletics to orchestra to the fencing club.

"Supplementals" originally were taken out of the proposed budget as a way to help close the $1.5 million gap. The supplementals are stipends paid to coaches, club sponsors, orchestra and choral directors.

The only supplementals that were not put back into the budget were for webmasters and AV directors. 

Under the new system, high school students will be charged a fee in the $90 range and middle school students will be charged about $55, said school board Director Aafke Loney. She cautioned that the specific amounts and details are not final.

The decision to add supplementals back into the budget was made at a Student Affairs Committee meeting held before the full school board meeting. The student activities coordinator's position was also put back into the budget.

School Board Vice President A. Robert Necciai balked at putting the position back in, but other directors said the coordinator was needed.

Loney said she believes imposing the student fees instead of raising taxes would be the best thing for the district.

Director Richard Herko countered that he thinks "the activity fee is a targeted tax increase."

Sundo, Nigh and Misback in the past have said they would support a tax increase.

After Monday's meeting, Sundo said he is concerned about how the proposed cuts will affect classrooms, specifically class size. He noted the board "got a lot of push-back" in the fall when students went back to bigger classes because of last year's budget cuts.

Proposed cuts in the 2011-12 budget also include not filling vacancies for four custodians and a custodial night supervisor, five para-educators, a personal care assistant, a secretary, the technology coordinator and one-and-a-half faculty positions.

The budget also calls for eliminating positions for two para-educators, pool guards and supervisors, and an aquatics director.

Other changes include:

• Eliminating the taping of school board meetings
•  Reducing the athletic equipment manager's job to a part-time position
•  Changing a full-time elementary teacher's job to a half-time position
•  Restructuring transportation and central office positions as a result of retirements
• Reducing pay for athletic workers to minimum wage
• Cutting the Gateway to the Arts program, the ELI membership fee and meals and refreshments for various events
• Cutting staff development initiatives in half.

Misback said she is concerned about the depth of the proposed cuts for 2011-12 and the years beyond.

"My concern is, where are we going to be next year?" she said after the meeting.

Nigh said he too is concerned about class sizes and the needs of special education students -- seven para-educator positions will be eliminated under the current proposed budget.

Sundo and Nigh said they appreciate the restoration of the "supplementals" cuts, but it is not enough.

"There are bigger issues here," said Nigh.