Board Adopts Budget Plan

On May 29, 2014 the Bartlesville Board of Education unanimously approved a budget plan developed by the Superintendent's Budget Development Committee which reflects priorities of our bargaining unit. BEA Chief Negotiator Granger Meador was the only teacher on the 12-member committee, which consisted this year of Superintendent Quinn, school board members Boswell, Clark, and Divelbiss, executive directors Birk, Herriman, Martinez, and McCauley, principals Brown and Langham, BECPO classified employee representative Snellgrove, and BEA certified employee representative Meador.

Financial Situation

The cash burn rate on the fund balance is about $(600,000) for 2013-14, which is better than was estimated when the 2013-14 budget was adopted. For 2014-15 the district is projected to receive an additional $344,000 in state aid through the funding formula and an additional $278,000 in local and county ad valorem revenue. Consequently, no changes in the budget from the prior year would allow for a balanced budget in 2014-15.

However, the committee recommended and the board approved a budget plan that re-establishes a cash burn rate in the general fund. It is estimated that the approved plan will drop the district fund balance from 13.9% to 12.0% through June 2015. Board members on the budget committee have in the past expressed a long-term desire to keep the fund balance at 10% or higher to insulate the district from possible revenue shortfalls and as a contingency against the impact of interest payments on the building fund due to the recent bond issue's lease-purchase financing. The board is hoping to sell the old McKinley school property and a tract of land north of The Village apartments in the southeast corner of town to help bolster the building fund, but if it runs short a few years from now, that would impact the balance in the general fund for most district operations.

Teacher Salaries & Increments

The approved budget plan funds all of the BEA proposals regarding teacher salaries and increments, for a total increased investment of $221,193:

• All teachers advance one step on the salary schedule (for a net savings of $(69,944) after a correction for retirement attrition)

• Adds a step 26 to all lanes of the certified salary schedule, so those topped out at step 25 will advance to 26 ($44,729 cost)

• $455 increase to all steps and lanes of the salary schedule in exchange for adding 5 minutes to teacher work day ($230,248 cost)

• Lift extra duty increments to latest peer averages and add slow pitch softball ($16,160 cost)

This is the second year of a three-year plan to increase the teacher work day from 7 hours 15 minutes in 2012-13 to 7 hours 20 minutes in 2013-14 with a $450 raise, to 7 hours 25 minutes in 2014-15 with a second raise of $455, and finally to 7 hours 30 minutes in 2015-16 with a third raise of $460. All of those raises are increases at all steps and lanes in the salary schedule and come on top of step increases.

It is significant that the board has agreed to add a step 26 to the schedule; our peer districts have an average of 32 to 33 steps. Expanding our schedule with more steps would make the salaries for our most experienced teachers more competitive. The current board members and administrators seem amenable to finally addressing this long-term problem which Mr. Meador has, for many years, repeatedly researched and highlighted during the budget process. Up to now each year has brought a different "band-aid" solution to the issue ranging from one-time stipends to larger steps at the end of the schedule; adding more steps to the schedule in future years would be a welcome improvement.

Other Monetary Issues for Bargaining

While agreement on the above increases is expected when the BEA and board bargaining teams meet in June, the fate of some other items in the budget plan is far less certain.

The administration has proposed providing $1,500 stipends and $500 in training for one instructional coach at each elementary school to allow them to conduct some teacher TLE appraisals at their school. This conflicts with existing language in the agreement requiring that appraisals be conducted by an administrator. The BEA will be using polling data from its recent teacher survey in the bargaining process for this concept.

The administration has also proposed providing a $100 per semester stipend for certified teachers with perfect attendance (no use of sick or personal business leave; excludes absences for school business). This concept will be considered at bargaining, along with other non-monetary items raised by the board and BEA teams.

Changes in Personnel

Staffing levels are not part of the June bargaining, but are a component of the budgeting process. The approved plan:

• Restores full teams at both middle schools by adding a science and a language arts teacher at each school, while dropping Success 101 at the Mid-High ($141,906 net cost)

• Hires a classified assistant at each elementary school to assist with student management & instruction (except at Jane Phillips, which already has one; $110,000 cost)

• Add 3/4-time Fine Arts secretary while consolidating the board minutes clerk position at the ESC ($12,500 net cost)

Other Items

The plan also funds the typical administrative raises ($31,933 cost) and a classified step increase ($116,489 cost without attrition correction) as well as a classified career increments increase ($10,422 cost).

Attached to this post is a summary of all of the new budget plan items which were approved by the board; some approved items could be approved, amended, or rejected in the bargaining process in June.