School Board Decides How to Spend $690,000

Masuk High School will replace old narrow lockers, the district will buy more SmartBoards and iPads, and the new Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Academy will have robotics, microscopes, probes and keyboards. The Board of Education will also add $220,622 to the school system's self-funded health insurance plan.

Supt. of Schools Dr. Colleen Palmer made all of the above recommendations on how to use $690,000 in unexpended funds and the Board of Education approved it by a vote of 7-2 at its meeting Monday night.

Kelly Plunkett and Donna Lane were the two board members in opposition.

Lane wanted to use more of the money on capital needs such as fixing leaky skylights in some schools and argued that the district could save money by leasing technology, especially because of how quickly advances are being made.

"At budget time we talked about maintenance concerns," Lane said. "Why not get all of the lockers now, instead of in a four-year phase in? [Why don't we] fix all of the skylights, so they're not leaking?"

Mark Antinozzi, a fellow board member, noted that the budget increase was lean for 2011-12, and said paying leasing costs could mean losing a teacher if the next budget is also tight.

"If you can buy the equipment, buy it now," he said. "Buy it so we can use it."

Thomas Taylor, another board member, said there seemed to be an implication that spending the $690,000 on other things would be in lieu of fixing things.

Palmer said, "We have money in the budget to address the most critical capital needs. If we thought something was more urgent, it would have been moved to year one."

The superintendent said there is also another $100,000 set aside for emergency maintenance in the operating budget. Taylor added that funding for buildings and maintenance had also been increased during the budget process.

Board of Education Chairman Darrell Trump said, "We have a lot of initiatives in town for capital improvements, but there's nobody but us to look out for the educational needs of the children."

Trump raved about how SmartBoards have changed learning in the classroom and Dr. Alan Vaglivelo, another board member, said it is "incredible" what iPads can do when educating children with special needs.

The Breakdown

Palmer said some of the lockers at Masuk are tall and thin and too narrow to store book bags and musical instruments. Of the $690,000, $7,000 would be spent to replace lockers.

She recommended $40,000 be spend on musical instruments for fifth-graders. Groups of instruments would be rotated to elementary schools in the district, so children can try different instruments before they reach the sixth-grade, Palmer explained.

Plunkett asked if the plan for rotating musical instruments would be short term and Palmer assured her it would take the district beyond three years.

The district will spend $337,878 on SmartBoards and $37,000 on iPads. The robotics, microscopes and keyboards for STEM would cost $47,500.

Though the school district has a balance of over $2.2 million in its self-funded health insurance account, Palmer recommended adding $220,622 to it.

"Last summer, in July, we had $1 million in claims, so it can be volatile," Palmer said of the self-insured account.

She said June's claims are not yet in and that July is traditionally higher, because teachers tend to put off elective procedures.

"It may look like $2.2 million is a lot of money," Palmer said. "But I caution you."