School Board Budget Talks Begin

The Madison school district budget process is officially underway, and the has plenty of challenges ahead as it aims to keep all of its programs intact for the upcoming school year.

Superintendent Michael Rossi said at the board’s Tuesday night meeting that his number one goal in the budget process is as follows: “Keep everything.”

“I believe if we start from a standpoint that we’re not cutting anything and we don’t have to cut, that has to be our first goal,” said Rossi.

Doing so is not without its challenges, especially considering the increasing rates of several necessities within the district. Teacher salaries are projected to go up 1.95 percent, while district energy costs and special needs expenditures are projected to rise 4 percent. Health care for district employees is projected to hit the district’s wallet even harder in the upcoming year, increasing in cost by 10 percent.

Business Administrator Gary Lane does not have any official numbers as far as what the district will need to curb the increase in costs while staying under the state-mandated 2 percent tax levy cap, but he estimates that those increases will generate “over $1 million in new monies needed for 2012-13.”

Lane, the board and attendees were in agreement on Thursday night with the fact that budget season is just around the corner, which is why this meeting was chosen to bring the matter to public notioce.

“You kind of forget in your normal process that the school’s still functioning, and it’s functioning well. We still have that finance issue hanging over our head that some of us think about every single day,” said Lane to members of the public. “Let’s keep a dialogue open on this and let’s move forward so, when we come to you in February or March, it doesn’t come to you like, ‘Wow, we have these issues.’”

Late February or early March is when the state is projected to release information on financial aid to districts across the state. In 2010 Trenton provided about $700,000 in aid to Madison. However, the district was still $900,000 short of its proposed budget and had to make cuts—some of which included faculty and staff at all of the district’s schools.

Among the issues regarding the budgets that concern residents is staffing. Since the 2008-09 school year, the district has gone from having 327 staff members to 307. Meanwhile, the number of students district-wide has increased from 2,213 to 2,386—a difference of 173—in the past year alone.

Some residents hope the district takes staffing into consideration before allocating costs elsewhere.

“To me, that’s a critical decision point,” said resident Beth Reilly. “That’s something I would love to see on Dr. Rossi’s hotlist of how we’re going to address that.”

Others, such as Johanna Habib of the Madison Music Association, hope to keep valuable programs, such as the performing arts, as prevalent in the district as they currently are despite budget constraints.

“Enrollment is up in the district, and it’s up in all of the music programs, significantly in some places,” said Habib. “That’s not an accident; in this district, we do a really good job of providing good performing arts programs.”

One thing everyone can seem to agree on is the notion that the community—as well as the state itself—must come together to prioritize the needs of the district before thinking about adding any additional programs or services.

“I think we need to come up with something that activates the community. Not just in our community, but in communities everywhere,” said resident Steve Wells.

Patience, however, will also be a key virtue in this year’s budgetary process, as the district tries to live another year within its means.

“I know there are a lot of things on a lot of people’s wish lists, as far as adding things and growing programs, and I can guarantee you that my list is longer than all of them,” said Rossi.