School Administrators Present Budget at PTA Ice Cream Social

The Manchester PTA hoped that serving ice cream on an 80-degree day would encourage the public to attend their meeting on April 11, when school administrators would again present the district's 2011-12 budget. 

Sheryl Claus, Manchester PTA president, said that she would have liked to have more residents come out to learn what the budget means for the township's taxpayers and children going into next year and beyond as the district faces an economic downturn and reduced state aid.  

“For five schools, I would have definitely liked to see a lot more people, and we were serving ice cream on such a hot day," she said. "We thought that would be an incentive to pull people in, but I am always happy with whoever takes the time to come out."

Superintendent David Trethaway presented the budget's key points  to a gathering of about 30 attendees, including PTA members, teachers and a handful of residents.

The goal of the PTA meeting was to invite the public to learn about the 2011-12 school budget prior to the April 27 vote. Claus said that she hopes those who did attend will educate others about what the budget entails.

“Of course, anything is better than nothing, and if all of these people have a loud enough voice, they can share the information that they hear tonight with someone who did not come," she said.

The 2011-12 budget emphasizes sustaining staff, programs, and school safety, providing text book and technology replacement, and continuing staff professional development and curriculum revisions.

Last year, Manchester schools faced a state aid cut of $2.3 million, which led the district to eliminate 22 staff positions and educational and sports programs. 

Because there is a 2 percent cap this year, and fuel costs are rising rapidly, the administration needed to find a way to cut an additional $1 million, Trethaway said.

To do this, the employee benefits program was reworked.

“Working with the support staff, the administration staff, instructional staff and all three unions, we were able to craft a situation where we were able to change their benefits," Trethaway said. "Certain things were modified, like going from traditional plans to direct access plans."

Because the employee benefits were altered, no programs, staff, courtesy busing or facility repairs were cut from the proposed budget.

“We are not touching anything except the staff and faculty and administrators and what they pay in benefits, and also what the district pays in benefits,” he said.

To save some more money, Manchester joined co-ops with other districts to buy in bulk and save money in fuel and insurance. 

“By being part of this consortium, we are saving about 50 cents per gallon of gas," said Craig Lorentzen, the district's business administrator. "When you are using 160,000 gallon of gasoline, that is a very significant savings."

According to the district, funding comes from the following sources: 9.8 percent from the state, 2.6 percent from the federal government, 81.6 percent from local taxes and 6 percent from miscellaneous revenues.  

“Although we received a $453,000 increase of state aid this year, we were still $1.9 million below funding of two years ago” Lorentzen said. “We also have to come up with about $812,000 for pension costs that we never had to do before.”

For the taxpayers, this budget would cost about $54 more per year, based on the average assessed home value of $194,100 in Manchester, or about $27 for every $100,000.

If the budget is not passed on April 27, Trethaway said that staff, programs and courtesy busing could be cut. He said that some facility repairs could be put off, but he will not sacrifice student safety.

Trethaway said that, compared to the 69 other K-12 districts in the state, Manchester has the 18th lowest per pupil cost at $11,827. The state average is $13,338. 

The district is rated the lowest in salary and benefits for administrators per pupil in the state and has the 55th highest student-to-teacher ratio, something that the superintendent said shows how the district puts "our money where it counts.”

Trethaway said he is confident in this budget and its focus on maintaining high educational standards for students.

“We are very proud of and excited about our budget, because we are not making any drastic cuts in our education, but we are saving taxpayers money,” he said.

But, the superintendent would have liked more residents to learn about what is happening in the school district.

“I am disappointed with the turnout. It is a very critical budget," he said. "However, we do have a nice mixture here. We have some people from the town, some senior citizens, and some parents so hopefully the people that are here will get the word out one way or another."

The Powerpoint presentation and budget information flyer are available in the media box of this article. More information on the budget and election is available on the Manchester school's website.