by Carrie Moritz, Gazette
On March 8, the Garretson School Board passed a $350,000 opt-out resolution, and on May 11, it will be put to a vote. At that time, the public can voice whether they agree the school can keep taxes where they've been for the past two years, or if they want the current opt-out to expire. On Tuesday, March 23, the school held an informational meeting about the Opt-Out.
In 2016, the school's General Fund was in dire straits. Normally, the school needs to keep a General Fund reserve of at least 18% in order to continue paying bills in between the two tax disbursements that occur each year. Back in 2016, the school was close to spending far enough into their reserve that a possibility of needing to lay off staff or even close the school's doors was brought into the discussion.
The opt-out resolution for $500,000 passed at that time, with a mandate from the community that the school work hard to turn those numbers around by the end of the opt-out's five years. In return, the school asked the community to work towards growth and improvement, so more students would be attracted to the school.
In 2016, Superintendent Guy Johnson noted that 100 new students would be needed within the next five years in order to close that gap. Over the next four years, numbers were trending in a positive direction, adding nearly 32 new students to total enrollment numbers. In 2020, after the school opted to open in August after the pandemic closed their doors for almost six months, enrollment numbers dropped back down to nearly 2016's baseline. Enrollment has since rallied some, but that won't count toward next year's budget.
"We're no longer at a crisis point, we just want to keep the district in a stable financial position and keep the district growing," said Superintendent Johnson during an opt-out informational meeting that was held on Tuesday, March 16. While not at a crisis point, he said, neglecting to pass the opt-out could bring the school back to where it was in 2016, looking to reduce staff or not having funds for preventative maintenance. While he doesn't believe the school will need to ask for the entire amount of the opt-out over the next two years, the school board wants the option in order to ensure any potential shortfalls would be covered.
Only about 20 people were in attendance at the meeting, though it was also streamed over the Alliance public channel and has been posted to YouTube. Questioning of local residents by the Gazette found most potential voters to be apathetic or against voting for the measure, but none were willing to go on record. Letters to the Editor both for and against are welcome.
Both Superintendent Johnson and School Board President Shannon Nordstrom are working to make an argument towards continuing the opt-out. In the meeting, they pointed out where the school has worked to reduce spending, including moving the school lunch program to a contractor instead of keeping it "in house" as it was prior to 2017. This has reduced costs substantially, to the tune of over $90,000. Another significant cost is the preschool program, which the school subsidizes. They were able to decrease the program cost to $25,698.87 in 2019 through tuition raises, but the school shut down in March 2020 spiked costs again as tuition was waived for the final months of the school year. They also reduced costs by bringing an end to some rental contracts (such as janitorial supplies like rags and mops) and by upgrading the school's lighting system to LED's. These did have large upfront costs, but the school estimates that those areas will save $5,000-10,000 a year each over the next 8-10 years.
Eighty percent of the general fund costs go towards salary and benefits for teachers and staff, leaving 20% for other costs. Without an increase in the General Fund, the school could potentially have to look at reducing staff by combining or eliminating classes.
"Ultimately, the goal is to treat people well, and provide a good program for them so they want to come to school here in Garretson," said Superintendent Johnson.
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