School Funding: Best practices for Plains

May 3, 2011 is the date of the school elections.  Plains-Paradise citizens will practice one of the greatest privileges of American Democracy: exercising their right to vote.  This year voters will decide on the elementary levy, high school levy, and three Trustee positions.  As the Plains-Paradise community members prepare to do their best, Plains Public Schools is also putting forth their best practices for our children.  This article will focus on budget savings mechanisms and election education.

In efforts to conserve resources, the Plains Public Schools has used common sense and best practices in budget planning.  When possible, staff members have been reassigned to handle the duties of those who have retired or left the district.  By consolidating duties and switching staff assignments, the need to hire new personnel has been lessened.  This results in a savings to the budget. Another staff savings to the schools is the use of volunteer coaches.  Most, if not all, extra-curricular programs have at least one volunteer coach.  In many situations, an entire sports program has all volunteer coaching.  

Plains Public Schools also uses the Tier 2 sports as a savings mechanism.  Tier 2 sports are cross-country, wrestling, softball, and golf.  These programs are not fully funded by the district and operate, partially, with self-funding.  The Tier 2 sports student athletes and coaches work very diligently to provide savings to the schools and still maintain the high level of discipline and performance required in their various activities.

Another example of providing maximum educational opportunities for the students at a minimal cost to the schools is the use of foundation monies.  Although foundation funds cannot be used for all activities, they have been used to help maintain student programs that might have otherwise been eliminated.  The elementary ski trips (5th and 6th grades combined and 7th and 8th grades combined) were partially financed with funds approved by the foundation trustees.  These small budget savings devices, and many others, allow the district to maintain a practical budget while still providing the best possible services for our children.

As Plains Public Schools works to maintain our best practices with budget savings, a point of election education comes to mind.  The nature of a levy’s permanency is always on the mind of the citizenry.  The voter information pamphlet states that the levy is annual, and the ballot states that the levy is permanent.  Both are true to a degree, but a levy can be reduced or even eliminated.  A voter approved levy may be used each year by a school district.  When the Trustees approve the annual budget, they enact the voted levies.  However, if the district receives enough money from other funding sources to fund the budget and the local levies are not necessary, they may be reduced or even eliminated by the Trustees once that year’s budget is adopted.  Once a voted levy is reduced or eliminated during the budget adoption process, it cannot be levied again without voter approval.  As a result, voted levies are permanent if needed, however they can be removed by action of the Trustees.

Using best practices for budget savings and planning, Plains Public Schools has worked very hard to provide the best for our students.  By outlining the complexities of school funding (including ANB and Basic Entitlements), the loss of ARRA funds, the constraints of timelines, and the uncertainties of the legislature, the district has worked hard to provide the community with educational tools to help them with their decisions.  Plains Public Schools encourages all to share in the processes of American Democracy.  Remember to vote on May 3, 2011.