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Granite School District > Superintendent's Office > Sup’s Vlog > Budget

Budget

Question – Wage Freeze?

Question

For the last 3 years many employees have been at the same wage due to a freeze. We have made this sacrifice so the teachers could receive their negotiated monies. My question is, that with us, as employees shouldering part of the budget cuts, how long will we have to continue paying larger insurance premiums and medicine costs, with no compensation for our years worked or our increased education. In the two years our salaries have been frozen, these costs have increased dramatically. We are now making less money than we did 3 years ago, even though our salaries have only been frozen for the last 2 years. These monies cannot be made up for those of us who are working towards retirement. Do we matter? This question is asked with no disrespect to the District or any one employee.

Response

Yes, principal secretaries matter.

To clarify, no employees in the district have received a COLA in several years. Two years ago teachers lost 5.5 days pay with a legislative cut. These were additional days beyond what the district funds for any employee. Consequently, for that year only, teacher steps were funded while all other employee groups did not receive step increases. Other than that one year, all employee groups have received step increases annually. Employees in all groups who are on the top step have not received pay increases. The district and board fully recognize and appreciate that employees have garnered an increased share of their insurance costs as we have dealt with over $53 million in cuts in the past three years. As such, we look forward to a time when the legislature provides funds for a COLA increase.

However, sensitivity to the great efforts of secretaries and all employees over the last few years plays into the recent award of a 1.5% bonus which was added to the June check.

Thanks for the question,

Martin

Superintendent Snapshot – FY 2011-2012 budget challenge overview

Hello all,

I know you’ve been involved with the budget process through school community councils and other avenues. As you may know, we had a special board meeting on the 24th – and will have another one on Tuesday, the 31st – as we’re building the budget. Here is a copy of last night’s PowerPoint presentation that I sent to you earlier this week and reference in the below snapshot. Board meeting May 24, 2011.

I think the Board is keenly aware of sacrifices you have made and continue to make. In fact, as we talked about changes to the health insurance plan over the last few years, board members rose to applaud the 100 or so employees who attended the meeting. Please attend on the 31st at 8pm if you can.

I encourage you to look at the presentation closely. In a very real way you are the most credible (and therefore the best) advocates of public education in general and certainly our district and schools.

Thanks for all you do and have a great weekend!

Martin

Superintendent Snapshot – Teacher of the Year Surprise!

Howdy,

With all the budget discussions, it has been quite busy. We have scheduled two additional board meetings over the next two Tuesday evenings (24th and 31st at 8pm) to talk budget. Busy time, but I will post more responses here throughout the week. Check back early and often and send new questions to SuperintendentsBlog@graniteschools.org.

Question – What impact will S.B. 63 have on K-3 reading programs in the Granite District? Will funding be cut for reading specialists next year?

Answer- Great Question. The legislature left the funding for K-3 reading programs unchanged for this year. The district does not expect any changes in our current service pattern.

Have a question for the Superintendent? Ask! Email him at SuperintendentsBlog@GraniteSchools.org. He will respond personally, post the question here or answer it as part of the superintendent snapshot. Keep the questions coming.

Superintendent Snapshot – Budget Input

Welcome to the latest superintendent snapshot. Its budget time again and we are asking our employees and patrons for feedback. I am sending an email to all of our employees, school community council members and PTA leaders asking for their input through a specific feedback process. The budget projections presentation is linked below in a previous post. Feel free to post your budget questions (or any other questions) here, or you can email them to SuperintendentsBlog@graniteschools.org. Thank you in advance for your critical feedback!

Budget Projections presentation

This is the budget presentation that was provided to the board on Tuesday, April 5. We encourage patrons and employees to review this presentation previous to providing input to your school community council or PTA. Feel free to post questions here regarding these projections.

Click here to view the presentation – GSD Budget Projections – FY 2012

Budget Update

As we move into the start of the Legislative session, I want to make sure you are aware of the messages in play regarding budget impacts on public education. Late last week, a poll was released showing that 57% of Utahns don’t want public education cuts. <http://utahpolicy.com/featured_article/utahns-don%E2%80%99t-want-public-education-cuts>.  Use of Rainy Day Funds has held public education harmless in the current budget year.  The media has been touting that public education will be held harmless in this next budget cycle.

Let us clarify the latter.  You have heard that the Governor’s budget will “hold public education harmless.”  While it is true that the Governor’s recommendation to the legislature is to maintain current levels of education funding, there will be no increase to offset anticipated enrollment growth of up to 11,000 new students throughout the state. With the increase in student population, the overall WPU will be cut 2-3% which will be felt by all school districts throughout the state, including Granite School District. This means will receive 2-3% less in state funding next year than we did for our current budget year.

While we feel confident that the Governor and the Legislature are trying to minimize the impact of budget reductions on public education to the greatest extent possible, we want to clarify for our employees what the state’s budget discussions might mean to Granite District. We anticipate additional communications with our employees as the details of these budget recommendations become available through the legislative session. Feel free to send questions or concerns via email to superintendentsblog@graniteschools.org , or post those comments here on my blog.

Sincerely,

Superintendent Ronnenkamp

Preliminary Budget Established

Dear Patrons and Employees:

As of the May 5, 2009 board meeting, the district has agreed to a preliminary balanced budget. Teachers should be reassured that the board of education worked through the difficult budget cuts and decisions with the following guiding principles in mind:

  • Minimize the impact on the classroom
  • Provide essential support to all students
  • Bear the impact across the system
  • Minimize the loss of positions
  • Root decisions in long-term perspective
  • Balance the budget

The administration and board scheduled additional meetings to work toward a balanced budget. That goal was achieved at the May 5, 2009 board meeting. While you will hear in the news regarding other school districts working to resolve their budget issues, Granite School District has been proactive in getting these issues resolved early on in the budget cycle.

Some of the key budget cuts include:

District Office–$4.4 million by cutting 95 total personnel/positions. To the utmost extent possible, these personnel were shifted to openings in schools. This included such positions as reading, math and music specialists. These cuts will impact services to schools. It is important to note that Granite School District already had the lowest administrative costs in the state and nation.

Elimination of pay increases for all personnel other than teachers (including district administration). The increase in the teachers salary package will help offset the impact of the 5.5 days of professional development cut by legislature.

An increase in staffing ratios by .25 students K-12.

Elimination of two school days from 2009-10 calendar. These days will now be utilized for professional development time for teachers. This will compensate for 5.5 days of professional development time cut by the legislature. The board and administration feel that providing preparation and professional development time is essential in order to provide quality classroom instruction.

The Granite District board of education and administration has worked hard to minimize the impact of these budget cuts on the classroom. Additionally, we especially appreciate the input that our employees have provided to help shape these important decisions.

Budget Update

Dear Colleagues:

As the budget cycle has progressed, I have appreciated the time that so many of you have taken to send your comments to the board and myself. We have literally received several hundred emails and calls. This type of direct input from our personnel is essential to ensure that the board has all the information it needs to make these difficult decisions regarding our budget.

As we received your input, we catalogued this information for each of our board members. Additionally, the superintendency, along with our budget director Mitch Robison, reviewed each suggestion to determine potential cost savings. All of this information was then relayed to the board in their study sessions and board meetings. We have posted the most recent information from these presentations on the district homepage or click here.

Per the administration’s recommendation, the school board made several key decisions at the April 21 board meeting including district level cuts and shifts in funding sources involving 95.5 positions, and totaling over $4 million. The board also reduced the number of student attendance days for 2009-10 by two to allow teachers additional paid professional development time. This is to compensate for the 5.5 days that were cut by the legislature. Additional information is available in the Board Report.

I appreciate your continued comments and suggestions as we work to finalize the budget for next year. Thank you for your dedication and commitment to the students we serve.

Sincerely,

Superintendent Ronnenkamp