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Budget Development
Budget priorities for 2020-2021 academic year
 What we hear from our local legislators and others at the state level is that it would be safest to plan for a flat budget for schools in 2020-2021, although we will continue to advocate for increased per-pupil funding since Oklahoma’s remains the lowest in the region and the number of teachers with emergency certification has continued to increase statewide even with two consecutive years of significant salary improvements. A high priority is improving class sizes, with the state moving toward gradually re-imposing HB 1017-style class size limits of 20 students in elementary classes and 140 students per day for secondary school teachers. Our current elementary class size targets are 23 in Pre-Kindergarten, 24 in Kindergarten, and 25 in First Grade through Fifth Grade. Our middle school teachers currently average 100 students per day, and our high school teachers currently average 120 students per day. We intend to follow the state’s lead in focusing first on reducing early childhood class sizes, with new local targets of 20 in Pre-Kindergarten which gradually rise to 23 in Third Grade. We project those can be achieved by rebalancing our staffing, which will mean reducing some secondary teaching positions at both middle schools and BHS and adding elementary positions while keeping our secondary class load averages well below the HB 1017 limit. This is part of a strategic approach to achieve long-term, sustainable, and lasting gains for students, which includes maintaining our commitments to recent successful initiatives such as the ATLAS elementary alternative program. |
State budget agreement announced
Reports of a state budget deal for the 2020 fiscal year is good news for the school district. The agreement between Governor Stitt, House Speaker McCall, and Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat is to provide a $157.7 million increase for common education. The agreement should fund:
BPSD will use the formula funding to address the previously published 2019-20 budget priorities:
Currently projecting a slight decline in the fund balance The district was already facing a $440,000 reduction in state aid in 2019-20 due to enrollment drops in previous years; district funding is based on the highest weighted average daily membership over the past three years. All of the projected new revenue from the state will likely NOT be sufficient to fully cover:
Building fund improvements should help The district's building fund has been burdened with lease purchase interest payments, but those will end this summer. The consequent improving balance in the building fund should provide the district enough flexibility that the projected drop in the General Fund's balance is not a major concern. Bond issues will remain vital Because the General Fund balance is expected to drop, the district will remain heavily reliant on current and future bond issues to meet operating costs for technology hardware and services, maintenance, curricular purchases, and so forth. Voters will be asked to consider a new bond issue on August 13, 2019 to provide funding for bondable operational costs as well as facility improvements. Even with the increase in state funding, Oklahoma will remain last in the region in per-pupil funding. Continued increases in state funding will be needed. |  |
2019-2020 Budget Priorities
Bartlesville’s leadership in the successful effort in spring 2018 to secure better salaries for teachers and support staff statewide, along with an improving state economy, has provided the foundation for further improvements in 2019-2020. The leaders of the new legislature and the new governor continue to signal they recognize the state must continue to reinvest in public schools. So we have the exciting prospect of prioritizing likely budget additions rather than the repeated cuts of recent years. A high priority for the district will be improving class sizes. However, it does not anticipate receiving a large enough increase in per-pupil funding to fully accomplish that goal, and the continued teacher shortage will impact its progress. So the district will approach that issue strategically to achieve long-term, sustainable, and lasting gains. This sea change in the district's prospects was made possible by the courageous efforts of teachers, staff, students, parents, and community members in Bartlesville and across the state.  |
Overview of state funding system for schools
At the request of a local community group, Granger Meador, the district's Exec. Dir. of Technology & Communications, prepared an overview of the school funding mechanisms in Oklahoma. He states, "This document provides an overview of how public schools are funded in Oklahoma, including their reliance on a funding formula to promote vertical equity, and how those funding mechanisms evolved."
 | Other presentations on school funding In the spring of 2018 Meador also presented to the Arvest Financial Forum about the current state of school funding. Below is an updated version of that slideshow, reflecting the possibility that a veto referendum could delay teacher raises by up to a year and thus prolong and probably worsen the critical teacher shortage even if voters rejected the attempt to scuttle new taxes to fund teacher raises. |
State school funding overview as of April 19, 2018
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| Attachments:
2018 04 19 School Funding Overview.pdf
State education funding update as of 4/1/2018
- teacher pay raises
- school support employee pay raises
- restoration of the state textbooks activity fund
- the annual increase in school employee health insurance benefits
- some additional operational funding through the state aid formula
As of April 1, Governor Fallin had also signed into law the teacher pay raises while the bill with the education appropriation authority for the remaining items as well as the school support pay raise bill had been sent to her but not yet signed.
Fiscal summary:
What are teachers demanding in their walk out? On 4/2, the teacher demands seemed to be coalescing around two main issues:
| DETAILS ON EACH SCHOOL FUNDING AREATeacher Pay RaisesThe State Minimum Teacher Salary Schedule has been increased from $5,001 for a teacher with a bachelor's degree and no teaching experience to $8,395 for a teacher with a doctoral degree and 25 or more years of teaching experience. The raises range from 15.8 to 18.25%. The average teacher salary in the state should increase approximately $6,100. That is expected to lift the state from last in the region to being only behind Texas. The Governor has been sent but as of 4/1 had not yet signed HB 1026xx to provide a raise of $1,250 for school support employees. It includes a provision to pro-rate the raise for employees who are not full time. However, this raise would not apply to outsourced employees since they are not employed by the district, and the district would also not expect increased state funding for outsourced positions. In 2017-18 that includes our district's custodians, school-age care workers, and lawn services. In 2018-19 that would also likely include child nutrition workers, although the outsourcing of that group is expected to result in improved performance on worker benefits. In 2016 the state eliminated $33,000,000 in funding for textbooks. That will be restored and available for the 2019 textbook adoption of Language Arts & Instructional Technology (which does NOT include Reading & Literature). This will yield less than the cost of one typical textbook per student per year, but would still be a considerable boost to the district, which currently must rely entirely on school bond funding for textbooks. The textbooks purchased now and in the future for our secondary schools will consist of electronic licenses for use with take-home Chromebooks, with a limited number of physical copies. Elementary schools will still rely on physical copies until more elementary-age devices are available. The House Majority Leader indicated that the increased cost in FY19 of the state Flexible Benefit Allowance as state health insurance premiums rise should be covered at no cost to the district. The House Majority Leader indicated that $17,000,000 in new revenue will flow to districts through the State Aid formula. However, the district is already facing a loss of funding due to enrollment factors, and the increase in State Aid will not offset that. So we are not expecting any net new revenue to help us address class sizes, instructional supply budgets, or restoration of electives or programs. |
District Budget Update for the 2017-2018 Fiscal Year
 Knowing we had to build up our depleted fund balance, our district made significant personnel cuts before August 2016 to reduce our annual expenditures by $1.2 million. At this point, we are on track for a net cut of approximately $900,000 in state funding. So the conservative budget the Board of Education adopted last summer means we will have no problem making our payrolls. Additionally, in August 2016 the Bartlesville community voted overwhelmingly to increase property taxes in order to shift at least an additional $700,000 in annual operating expenses from the district’s general fund to bond funds. Because we received bond funds in the middle of this school year, we were able to shift about $450,000 for this fiscal year. We will shift a minimum of $700,000 for 2017-2018. | We continue to make tough decisions such as streamlining administrative positions. Those reductions will reduce our annual district expenditures by approximately $160,000, adding to $292,000 in annual savings created by the elimination of three central office administrative positions for the 2016-2017 school year. We do not anticipate other significant personnel reductions will be needed. So our budget priorities for 2017-2018 have not changed. They are to:
The state revenue failures mean our district fund balance at the end of the fiscal year will be around 7%, whereas a few months ago we were on track to end at around 10%. Chuck McCauley |
Bond issues help prevent staffing cuts
The successful August 2016 bond issues for the Bartlesville Public Schools were motivated primarily by repeated shortfalls in state funding in early 2016. Repeated cuts in state funding since 2008 had led to a reduction in the district fund balance from 15% to below 6%, a level too low to ensure it could cover its December payroll as it awaited receipt of property tax revenues in January.
So for the 2016-2017 school year, the district cut 5% of its teachers and additional administrators and support staff to address the continued loss of revenue from the state. But the district wisely did not trust that the state economy would improve nor that the legislature and governor would adequately fund public education and other state services. Since state leaders had failed to address school funding shortfalls since 2008, the district decided to seek help from local voters.
LOCAL VOTERS SHOW THEIR SUPPORT
The district went to voters in August 2016, asking them to increase local property taxes in order to shift at least $700,000 in additional annual operating expenses from the district's general fund to bond funds. The district projected that 15 or more teaching positions could be preserved from future cuts by this action. Local voters overwhelmingly approved, with 70% and 73% voting YES on two bond issues.
MORE STATE REVENUE FAILURES
During the current school year, the state has again had revenue failures in both its general fund and in dedicated funding sources for public schools. Preston Birk, the district's Chief Financial Officer, reported on 3/20/2017 to the Bartlesville Board of Education that the district is down $380,000 in state appropriated revenue from the already dismal funding from the prior year. At the current pace, he projected the district might be losing an additional $900,000 in state funding over the entire 2016-2017 school year.
BOND ISSUES ARE HELPING PREVENT ADDITIONAL TEACHER CUTS
The good news is that the district is currently NOT planning on any reduction in teachers nor an increase in average class sizes for 2017-2018 despite the continued reduction in state funding. The shifting of expenses to the bond issues is clearly a key reason for that happy outcome, along with additional administrative streamlining for 2017-2018 and the staffing cuts already implemented in 2016-2017.
FUND BALANCE SLOWLY RECOVERING
Mr. Birk reported that, with the staffing cuts and shifting of expenses to bond funds, the fund balance is projected to be around the minimum safe 7% level by the end of the fiscal year.
YOUR SCHOOLS NEED HELP FROM YOUR STATE GOVERNMENT
Oklahoma is in an education funding crisis. Teacher salaries are so low that Bartlesville and other districts statewide are unable to find certified teachers for all open positions, even with large staffing cuts.
District operating revenues are so low that the district has had to ask voters to raise local property taxes to make up for the massive reductions in state funding. If, as projected, the district loses another $900,000 in state funding by the end of this school year, that will exceed the operational expense shifts provided by the bond issues. So the remaining loss and any additional future cuts not covered by growth in local revenue will have to be borne by past and future staffing cuts.
Bartlesville voters can be proud that their support is why their district has some of the lowest average class sizes among the state's large 6A districts. But until there is a change in attitude and support for schools in state government, the district will continue to be unable to find enough certified teachers to fill open positions. And if funding shortfalls are not addressed, eventually the district will be forced to cut more teachers and raise class sizes further. |  |
| Attachments:
2017 04 07 Education Legislative Forum Flyer.pdf
Administrative streamlining for 2017-2018
The Bartlesville Board of Education approved a plan to further streamline administrative positions for the 2017-2018 school year at its meeting on February 20, 2017. Four administrative positions will be eliminated at the end of the 2016-2017 school year and two new positions created in a consolidation and reorganization of the district’s athletics and high school administration. As part of the process, four administrators currently occupying the eliminated positions will be non-reemployed at the end of the 2016-2017 school year. The affected administrators are eligible to apply for the two newly created positions and other open positions in the district. The board approved the elimination of the position of Director of Athletics at the end of the current school year. Tim Bart occupies that position and was head coach of the high school varsity boys basketball team from 2000-2014. He has been the district’s Director of Athletics since 2011. A new position of Director of Athletics & Activities will be created and filled, adding responsibility over school activities to the current athletic director functions. The board also approved the elimination of the position of Assistant Director of Athletics at the end of the current school year. Terry Hughes has occupied that position since 2012. He coached sports and taught social studies for many years at Madison Middle School. The Assistant Director of Athletics position became a full-time administrator position in 2013. The board also approved the elimination of the position of Bruin Academy Dean at the end of the current school year. Josh Waddell was hired in 2016 for that new position, overseeing the 9-12 alternative high school program housed in Custer Stadium. A new combined position of Bruin Academy Principal and Assistant Director of Athletics will be created and filled. The board also approved the elimination of one of the four Assistant Principal positions at Bartlesville High School. Jennifer Stahl occupies the Assistant Principal position that is being reduced. She was hired as an assistant principal at Bartlesville Mid-High in 2012 and transitioned to the current campus in 2015. The duties of the eliminated position will be absorbed into the duties of the remaining assistant principals and principal at the high school. Bartlesville Superintendent of Schools Chuck McCauley recommended the changes with great regret, citing how state aid money for the district is falling short of projections with two state revenue shortfalls this school year on top of multiple revenue shortfalls in the prior school year. The streamlining will reduce annual district expenditures by approximately $160,000, adding to $292,000 in annual savings created by the elimination of three central office administrative positions for the the 2016-2017 school year. Supt. McCauley stated that the employees associated with the positions being eliminated have done nothing wrong and the changes are based on financial circumstances. He has noted that passage of a bond issue in August 2016 is helping the district, as intended, to shift expenses and avoid cuts in teaching staff. Supt. McCauley indicated he does not anticipate other significant personnel reductions will be needed. Pointing out that the district has been planning since the spring of 2016 to add an Executive Director of Technology & Communications in July 2017, he said he expects additional technology-related staffing increases will be needed to successfully implement a multi-year 1:1 computing initiative. That program is one of the district budget priorities for 2017-2018, along with rebuilding the district fund balance, protecting existing programs, expanding STEM curricula into the elementary schools, and recruiting and retaining talented teachers by maintaining class sizes, providing salary increases, and improving school culture. Periodic updates on the district’s budget development process are being posted on the district's website at bps-ok.org under Budget Development in the Quick Links. |
Budget Priorities for the 2017-2018 Fiscal Year
Bartlesville Public Schools District Budget Priorities for the 2017-2018 Fiscal Year Some additional administrative positions will be eliminated and restructured for the 2017-2018 fiscal year to streamline district operations. It is NOT anticipated that other significant personnel reductions will be needed. The district’s budget priorities for the 2017-2018 fiscal year include:
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