A-R addresses $300,000 shortfall
By Michael Tidemann - Staff WriterARMSTRONG - Armstrong-Ringsted administration and an official of the regional Area Education Association met with media Friday to address budget concerns at Armstrong-Ringsted Consolidated School District.
The most pressing matter of concern is a $300,000 budget shortfall expected for the 2009-2010 School year.
"I think it's important to let the public know what we're doing," said Deb Obbink, A-R business manager and board secretary. "I think we're pretty proud of our process."
Armstrong-Ringsted Consolidated School District administration recently met with teachers and staff to develop a comprehensive approach to reduce expenditures and respond to both current and anticipated budget challenges.
Staff were invited to participate in two, one-hour brainstorming sessions: one to generate ideas and one to prioritize. Both sessions were facilitated by Area Education Agency Zone Coordinator Roberta Hersom. The final session, held Wednesday, Feb. 25, gave staff the opportunity to give input and to prioritize preferences. The results will be shared with Armstrong-Ringsted's school board and considered when creating final strategies to address funding shortfalls.
In March board members will approve the district's certified budget which will determine revenues for the 2009-10 school year. Strategies to address the expense budget shortfalls need to be completed by April 30.
Staff generated over 70 ideas during the sessions. Some could not be considered due to state mandates. The remaining ideas were prioritized then staff members were canvassed on what three ideas they could live with and three they could not. "We are working with everybody," Obbink said.
Superintendent Randy Collins said ideas ranged from not buying Kleenex to closing a building to not buying colored paper.
One idea that staff members suggested was a wage freeze.
"That came from the staff," Collins said. "It didn't get one negative vote."
Collins noted the April 30 is the "drop dead date" if there are to be any changes in staff. He said 90 percent of the district's revenues are determined by state formula with 80 percent of expenses coming from staff.
One area where the district has already aggressively addressed costs is provided for under Iowa Senate File 447 which compensates districts supplemental weighting for sharing administrative positions. That compensation amounts to the equivalent of two full-time students for every 100 students attending. In the case of the superintendent's position, that would amount to $40,000 a year for A-R plus the fact that the district would be paying a portion of the total salary cost. The district is "aggressively pursuing" sharing the superintendent's position with other districts, Collins said last week.
The district is already sharing the transportation director's position with Sentral Community School District as well as three teachers.
Collins said he also hopes that in the future A-R can do more with technology to help reduce transportation costs.
Another savings could come from one early retirement confirmed at the end of this school year.
"If we don't dramatically change things now we will be in the red in 18 months," Collins said. However, he said he is proud of the fact that the district took action to address the shortfall some time before being notified of a projected budget shortfall by the Iowa Department of Education.
"What I'm proud of is we've been working on this for several weeks," Collins said. "We're working hard to save jobs but at the same time we're working hard to address the $300,000 shortfall. We're trying to keep the cuts as far away from the kids as we can."
Becky Kinnander, AEA representative, remarked at Friday's meeting that it was impressive that some of the staff members at the brainstorming sessions said they were willing to take a pay freeze to save jobs.
Collins hopes to carry A-R's current sharing arrangements even further.
"A goal of ours is to create a regional academy," Collins said. Sharing two liberal arts courses would fulfill the requirements to qualify as an academy, he said.
Armstrong-Ringsted Consolidated School District is located in Emmet County and serves 350 students from a three-county area. More information about the district can be found on the Web at: www.armstrong.k12.ia.us
