The budget and the challenges that COVID-19 may have on it were the subjects of discussion at the North Platte School Board Zoom meeting Wednesday, May 20.
Combined funds 1 and 2 came to about $200,000 more than expected. The district got most of the state funds they normally get, but transportation funds were reduced from a little over $8,000 to a little under $3,000 for this month. Board members expect this will also be the amount the district will receive next month.
Members had a conference call with Gov. Mike Parson last week and discussed the budget and what they can expect for the rest of 2020 and 2021.
Superintendent Karl Matt said basically it was a lot of talking about what they think is going to happen but no specifics.
Between $500 million and $700 million will have to be cut out of the state budget but there are no specific plans on how that will be done.
Matt said on June 1 there should be another round of cuts but he doesn’t know what those will be yet.
A conference call with all the state’s superintendents will be held Tuesday, June 2.
“By the June board meeting I should have a better idea about this,” Matt said. “It’s just hard to calculate some things to determine exactly how much money the schools actually saved by not having to pay school utilities and that kind of thing. We have lost some revenue but we are still paying everybody. It’s not been a large amount that we’re saving on utilities.”
The estimate given was about $203,000 in revenue over expenditures. This number could be off by about $50,000 either way depending on what bills the district will pay this year instead of waiting to pay them next year. The district normally pays everything in June that they can for the following year. They will try to get the payments into this year’s budget.
The board had approved getting a new truck or two a few months ago. The truck they had been using for about 14 years is no longer working and more money would have to be spent to repair it than it’s worth so another truck was purchased last week for $6,500.
The second truck purchase will be postponed until the board has a better idea on how the budget does in the next year.
The district code response plan update was discussed. The district is still trying to follow guidelines as they navigate through the shutdown and finish out the year with distance learning.
Meal preparation will continue through June 30. More than 200 children are being provided with meals each week.
Plans were discussed about what they will do if school is postponed which included online courses. Starting the new school year with online courses will include actual grades based off the work but the quantity of the work will have to be upgraded and teachers will have to spend more of their time online with students.
After the 2019-2020 budget update was approved board members discussed the 2020-2021 budget projection. The board’s projection at this time is the loss of about $263,000 in the general fund.
This projection takes out all the transportation money the district would normally receive. This will put the district somewhat close to even between this fiscal year and next fiscal year.
The district should have a carryover of $2.3 million to $2.4 million next year unless things really get bad, but they are predicting that even if they do the district will still be above $2 million.
A law passed in 2014 says the state cannot take away the district’s school funding formula money. The North Platte school district is a Hold Harmless district so they won’t be affected as much as other districts in the state.
One recommendation the board will consider is that teaching staff might not be replaced after retirement.
The district board of education election will be Tuesday, June 2.
There is about $6,600 in the senior class funds that seniors raised by working concession stands when they were juniors which was to go toward their senior trip that they were unable to take.
The board discussed giving the money back to the students in the form of gift certificates which would come to about $200 per student. This was unanimously approved by board members.
Summer school for 2020 would have normally started last week, but since that wasn’t possible options were discussed at the meeting. Virtual summer school was brought up but members questioned whether there would be good attendance. The possibility of starting summer school July 6 and finishing by July 31 was also brought up.
Plans would need to safely keep kids apart. Water bottles would have to be brought in to avoid fountain use.
Board members talked about possibly having summer school at the high school where kids could spread out more and about using elementary and intermediate schools and putting half of the students in each spot or just using the elementary school.
The options will come down to what the health department recommends.
Board members agreed that if it can be done they should do it and that the guidelines should say that during summer school there would be less enrichment time and more time spent on reading and math.