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School district identifies cuts

By BRIAN LEAHY
of The Gazette
A resource reallocation plan with a net cut in expenditures of $3.4 million is needed to keep the Stevens Point Area Public School District from repeatedly seeking voter approval to exceed revenue caps, according to Superintendent David Schuler.

"In recent years, the district has asked the community to approve one-year referenda to exceed the state-imposed revenue caps for operational expenses," Schuler said. "While those operational referenda have been approved, the structural deficit that was covered by the additional revenue generated from the referendum was not dealt with and, therefore, continued to grow."

Schuler presented his resource allocation proposal to the School Board Monday. No discussion took place following his presentation. The School Board will hold two public hearings on the proposal. The first was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31, in the Stevens Point Area Senior High School auditorium. The second will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, at Ben Franklin Junior High School.

If the structural deficit issue isn't addressed, Schuler projects a $3.5 million deficit in the 2003-2004 school year, $4.6 million for 2004-2005, $5.8 million in 2005-2006 and $7.1 million in 2006-2007.

"Therefore, simply to maintain current programming, the district would need to ask the community in 2006-2007 for approval to expend $7.1 million over the revenue caps," Schuler said.

Reasons for the structural deficit include a continuing decline in enrollment, causing a reduction in state aid, and increased costs for supplies, textbooks and special education, he said. Overall student enrollment has decreased, but not the special education population.

Schuler asked the board at its Aug. 26 meeting not to go to referendum for the 2003-2004 school year, so he could instead look for at least $2.1 million in cuts, which would have meant the district would have needed to take $1.5 million out of its cash reserves to cover the deficit for 2003-2004. The reallocation plan he has developed won't require the district to take any money out of its reserve fund. The plan for 2003-2004 needs to be adopted by mid-November so programming for the junior and senior high schools can be set when student course guide selections are printed.

His proposal includes $3,631,577 in cuts and $155,432 in new expenditures for total savings of $3,476,145.

The biggest cost reduction, $1,236,735, is the anticipated retirement of 45 teachers, at a saving of $27,483 per teacher.

Increasing the student-to-staff ratio at Stevens Point Area Senior High School from 14.95:1 to 17:1 would result in $576,000 in savings through the elimination of 12.8 full-time equivalent positions. Increasing the junior high student-to-staff ratio to 15:1 would result in $562,500 in savings by eliminating 12.5 full-time equivalent positions - 9.0 positions at P.J. Jacobs and 3.5 at Ben Franklin. The current ratios are 13.08:1 at P.J. Jacobs and 14.11:1 at Ben Franklin.

Many districts in the state have a student-to-staff ratio between 18:1 and 20:1, Schuler said. The student-to-staff ratio is determined by dividing the number of students by the number of staff members with a teaching license, including special education teachers.

The next largest savings is reducing the number of librarians in the district from 14 to six and adding aide time so each elementary school has a seven-hour per day education assistant in the library. The net savings would be $441,262.

"Currently every school in the district has at least one full-time certified librarian," Schuler said. "As you know librarians must have a master's degree in order to be certified within their discipline."

The buildings and grounds budget would be reduced by $250,000.
"I have been assured that this can occur without impacting current services," Schuler said. "Certain projects that were planned may need to be delayed, but it is important to note that there should not be any impact on services provided to students as a result of this item."

Other cost savings are eliminating the Russian language program, .4 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE), $18,000; eliminating competency educators for English and math, 1.2 FTE, $54,000; increasing music, art and physical education teachers elementary contact time, 3.0 FTE, $135,000; eliminating the Write Place staff at SPASH, 1.6 FTE, $72,000; eliminating the half-time early childhood program at Kennedy Elementary and busing those students, .5 FTE, $22,500; eliminating the English as a second language/early childhood position that originated at Grant School, .8 FTE, $36,000; increasing fourth-grade teacher contact time, 1.4 FTE, $63,000; contracting for hearing impaired services, $60,000; and reduction of curriculum department personnel, $104,580.

Add-ins include hiring four seven-hour English-as-a-second language aides, $72,452; hiring five five-hour elementary reading and math aides, $64,690; and increasing building funds by $5 a child at the elementary level, $18,290.

Increasing the fourth-grade teacher contact time would be accomplished by eliminating beginning orchestra and chorus from fourth grade. Keyboarding would also be moved to fifth grade.

"Numerous times throughout the listening sessions, teachers expressed concern regarding the lack of teaching time for the core subjects at the fourth-grade level," Schuler said. "This concern has been heightened recently with the pressures of the fourth-grade state test and the no-social promotion policy that takes effect this year."

The proposal to reorganize the curriculum department includes reducing secretarial staff in the department by one FTE. Schuler is also proposing to eliminate all teacher coordinator positions, except for the environmental education coordinator and the school-to-work/local vocational education coordinator.

"While not all of the teacher coordinator positions have been filled this year, the district has approved positions for a math coordinator, a social studies coordinator, a language arts coordinator (in addition to our administrative reading/language arts coordinator) and a science coordinator," Schuler said. "I would recommend eliminating those positions."

Schuler also wants to reduce the number of administrative coordinators and restructure their responsibilities to meet the needs of new state and federal mandates.

Mary Lou Harris-Manske would continue as reading/language arts/Title I coordinator. The proposal calls for creating an instructional administrator position to focus on district assessment and staff development, which Schuler recommends be filled by Jerry Corgiat, currently the Bannach Elementary School principal.

Schuler is recommending not hiring replacements for two pending retirements, Mike Bubla, Kennedy Elementary School principal, and Chuck Emerson, music coordinator. Pete Werner, art coordinator, and David Lockette, physical education/experiential education coordinator would continue to serve as coordinators for their departments but also assume building administrative responsibilities opened up by Bubla's retirement and Corgiat's transfer. Because Bannach is the largest elementary school, Schuler proposes moving a current principal to Bannach and hiring a new principal, who would also serve as a music or fine arts coordinator, for a smaller elementary school.

"In addition to reallocating expenses, it is also imperative to examine sources of revenue," Schuler said.

The superintendent will present a plan early next year addressing student fees, focusing on the consistency of fees between buildings, the behind-the-wheel driver's education course fee, parking fees and extra-curricular activities participation fees. He intends to involve the SPASH Student Senate in the process.

The experiential education assistant's position would be kept in the budget for 2003-2004, but beginning in 2004-2005 the assistant's salary would come from revenue generated through outside corporations' and organizations' use of the adventure learning facilities.

Schuler is considering recommending the board hire a grant writer for the 2004-2005 school year whose salary would be a percent of grant money awarded to the district. He also wants to develop an educational foundation as part of the Community Foundation of Portage County.

The plan was developed using input from 29 listening sessions that solicited the values and priorities members of the community want the education system to have. The board's Curriculum and Finance committees will meet Monday, Nov. 4, to discuss the proposal. The 2003-2004 school year reallocation plan will go before the full School Board at its Monday, Nov. 11, meeting.

"Following the board action, I will be continuing to review the operations of the school district and will be using the new strategic plan as a framework for developing the proposal being presented to the board in late April and early May to address the long-term financial status of the district," Schuler said.



	School district identifies cuts By BRIAN LEAHY of The Gazette A resource reallocation plan with a net cut in expenditures of $3.4 million is needed to keep the Stevens Point Area Public School District from repeatedly seeking voter approval to exceed revenue caps, according to Superintendent David Schuler. "In recent years, the district has asked the community to approve one-year referenda to exceed the state-imposed revenue caps for operational expenses," Schuler said. "While those operational referenda have been approved, the structural deficit that was covered by the additional revenue generated from the referendum was not dealt with and, therefore, continued to grow." Schuler presented his resource allocation proposal to the School Board Monday. No discussion took place following his presentation. The School Board will hold two public hearings on the proposal. The first was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31, in the Stevens Point Area Senior High School auditorium. The second will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, at Ben Franklin Junior High School. If the structural deficit issue isn't addressed, Schuler projects a $3.5 million deficit in the 2003-2004 school year, $4.6 million for 2004-2005, $5.8 million in 2005-2006 and $7.1 million in 2006-2007. "Therefore, simply to maintain current programming, the district would need to ask the community in 2006-2007 for approval to expend $7.1 million over the revenue caps," Schuler said. Reasons for the structural deficit include a continuing decline in enrollment, causing a reduction in state aid, and increased costs for supplies, textbooks and special education, he said. Overall student enrollment has decreased, but not the special education population. Schuler asked the board at its Aug. 26 meeting not to go to referendum for the 2003-2004 school year, so he could instead look for at least $2.1 million in cuts, which would have meant the district would have needed to take $1.5 million out of its cash reserves to cover the deficit for 2003-2004. The reallocation plan he has developed won't require the district to take any money out of its reserve fund. The plan for 2003-2004 needs to be adopted by mid-November so programming for the junior and senior high schools can be set when student course guide selections are printed. His proposal includes $3,631,577 in cuts and $155,432 in new expenditures for total savings of $3,476,145. The biggest cost reduction, $1,236,735, is the anticipated retirement of 45 teachers, at a saving of $27,483 per teacher. Increasing the student-to-staff ratio at Stevens Point Area Senior High School from 14.95:1 to 17:1 would result in $576,000 in savings through the elimination of 12.8 full-time equivalent positions. Increasing the junior high student-to-staff ratio to 15:1 would result in $562,500 in savings by eliminating 12.5 full-time equivalent positions - 9.0 positions at P.J. Jacobs and 3.5 at Ben Franklin. The current ratios are 13.08:1 at P.J. Jacobs and 14.11:1 at Ben Franklin. Many districts in the state have a student-to-staff ratio between 18:1 and 20:1, Schuler said. The student-to-staff ratio is determined by dividing the number of students by the number of staff members with a teaching license, including special education teachers. The next largest savings is reducing the number of librarians in the district from 14 to six and adding aide time so each elementary school has a seven-hour per day education assistant in the library. The net savings would be $441,262. "Currently every school in the district has at least one full-time certified librarian," Schuler said. "As you know librarians must have a master's degree in order to be certified within their discipline." The buildings and grounds budget would be reduced by $250,000. "I have been assured that this can occur without impacting current services," Schuler said. "Certain projects that were planned may need to be delayed, but it is important to note that there should not be any impact on services provided to students as a result of this item." Other cost savings are eliminating the Russian language program, .4 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE), $18,000; eliminating competency educators for English and math, 1.2 FTE, $54,000; increasing music, art and physical education teachers elementary contact time, 3.0 FTE, $135,000; eliminating the Write Place staff at SPASH, 1.6 FTE, $72,000; eliminating the half-time early childhood program at Kennedy Elementary and busing those students, .5 FTE, $22,500; eliminating the English as a second language/early childhood position that originated at Grant School, .8 FTE, $36,000; increasing fourth-grade teacher contact time, 1.4 FTE, $63,000; contracting for hearing impaired services, $60,000; and reduction of curriculum department personnel, $104,580. Add-ins include hiring four seven-hour English-as-a-second language aides, $72,452; hiring five five-hour elementary reading and math aides, $64,690; and increasing building funds by $5 a child at the elementary level, $18,290. Increasing the fourth-grade teacher contact time would be accomplished by eliminating beginning orchestra and chorus from fourth grade. Keyboarding would also be moved to fifth grade. "Numerous times throughout the listening sessions, teachers expressed concern regarding the lack of teaching time for the core subjects at the fourth-grade level," Schuler said. "This concern has been heightened recently with the pressures of the fourth-grade state test and the no-social promotion policy that takes effect this year." The proposal to reorganize the curriculum department includes reducing secretarial staff in the department by one FTE. Schuler is also proposing to eliminate all teacher coordinator positions, except for the environmental education coordinator and the school-to-work/local vocational education coordinator. "While not all of the teacher coordinator positions have been filled this year, the district has approved positions for a math coordinator, a social studies coordinator, a language arts coordinator (in addition to our administrative reading/language arts coordinator) and a science coordinator," Schuler said. "I would recommend eliminating those positions." Schuler also wants to reduce the number of administrative coordinators and restructure their responsibilities to meet the needs of new state and federal mandates. Mary Lou Harris-Manske would continue as reading/language arts/Title I coordinator. The proposal calls for creating an instructional administrator position to focus on district assessment and staff development, which Schuler recommends be filled by Jerry Corgiat, currently the Bannach Elementary School principal. Schuler is recommending not hiring replacements for two pending retirements, Mike Bubla, Kennedy Elementary School principal, and Chuck Emerson, music coordinator. Pete Werner, art coordinator, and David Lockette, physical education/experiential education coordinator would continue to serve as coordinators for their departments but also assume building administrative responsibilities opened up by Bubla's retirement and Corgiat's transfer. Because Bannach is the largest elementary school, Schuler proposes moving a current principal to Bannach and hiring a new principal, who would also serve as a music or fine arts coordinator, for a smaller elementary school. "In addition to reallocating expenses, it is also imperative to examine sources of revenue," Schuler said. The superintendent will present a plan early next year addressing student fees, focusing on the consistency of fees between buildings, the behind-the-wheel driver's education course fee, parking fees and extra-curricular activities participation fees. He intends to involve the SPASH Student Senate in the process. The experiential education assistant's position would be kept in the budget for 2003-2004, but beginning in 2004-2005 the assistant's salary would come from revenue generated through outside corporations' and organizations' use of the adventure learning facilities. Schuler is considering recommending the board hire a grant writer for the 2004-2005 school year whose salary would be a percent of grant money awarded to the district. He also wants to develop an educational foundation as part of the Community Foundation of Portage County. The plan was developed using input from 29 listening sessions that solicited the values and priorities members of the community want the education system to have. The board's Curriculum and Finance committees will meet Monday, Nov. 4, to discuss the proposal. The 2003-2004 school year reallocation plan will go before the full School Board at its Monday, Nov. 11, meeting. "Following the board action, I will be continuing to review the operations of the school district and will be using the new strategic plan as a framework for developing the proposal being presented to the board in late April and early May to address the long-term financial status of the district," Schuler said.