Faced with less funding from state and federal sources, the Columbia School District has made staff reductions and implemented other cost-cutting measures for the 2017-18 school year.
During a Public Hearing last Thursday, Business Manager Kim Rogers presented the numbers to the CSD Board of Trustees and administrative team. No members of the public attended the hearing, held in the District offices on Bryan Avenue.
“We started working on this and had several different challenges that we were facing,” she said. “One of them is that we were at the 55 mill cap for ad valorem, so we couldn’t ask for an increase in ad valorem money. We had missed the non-renewal deadline, so that all of our certified staff has been rehired, we couldn’t reduce days or eliminate any of those positions.”
The Marion County Tax Assessor/Collector’s Office notified the District that there had been an increase in valuation; however, Rogers said the exact amount of money the District would receive.
“If it were all taxable property, we would receive approximately $500,000 more,” she said. “Our state MAEP (Mississippi Adequate Education Program) funds have been reduced by $393,000 and our federal funds had been reduced by more than $200,000. We were looking at some increases in our budget such as step raises and people getting advanced degrees and we had to add a couple of new positions and change some from part-time to full-time. We also had utility increases. All of that was more than $600,000 in increased expenses. When you combine our decrease in revenue and our decrease in expenses, we were looking for $1.3 million.”
Rogers, Superintendent Jason Harris and other administrators met with individual building principals and sought solutions.
“A lot of blood, sweat and tears went in to the decisions,” she said. “At Columbia Primary School, we reduced the staff. Our assistant principal retired and we did not replace that position. We reduced three teachers, an interventionist, a kindergarten assistant, two computer lab intervention assistants and a special education assistant. At Columbia Elementary School, we are adding a new wing there and we had to add an assistant principal position, but we were able to reduce staff by one teacher. With all of their increases, it was pretty much a wash on being able to save money at that location. At Jefferson Middle School, we were able to reduce staff by four teachers and two special ed assistants and at Columbia High School, we reduced two teachers, a part-time clerical assistant, replaced a full-time foreign language teacher with a part-time teacher and we had some savings in salaries on people who had left and new hires. At the District level, we froze the athletic and band uniform rotation funds for a year. We did not renew the curriculum consultant contract and had other savings.”
After discussing the cuts and changes, Rogers delivered some good news to the Board.
“We were able with those changes, to balance the budget,” she said.
Rogers then broke down the District’s revenue.
According to the information shared with the Board, local sources of revenue for 2018 will be $5,182,739.89, an increase of $10,438.39. All other sources show decreases with state sources providing $8,751,141, a reduction of $380,774 over the previous fiscal year. Federal funding will account for $2,130,013.30 this year, a reduction of $290,090.70. Even 16th Section Land resources are projected to be down to $150,000 from last year, a $26,813.65 reduction. Transfers are projected to be down more than $80,000 to $791,641.83.
Overall, the Columbia School District’s expenditures are projected to be down from $27,975,459.61 in the 2016-17 fiscal year to $23,375,661.54 in the 2017-18 year; a reduction of $4,599,798.07.
Board President Marie Shepard thanked those involved with the budget process.
“I know it was a lot of hard work,” she said. “People had to be moved around between schools and I just want to thank everybody for it. I want to thank the principals for their cooperation and all of the other staff for their cooperation, we really appreciate it. I’m really proud that we were able to save everybody’s job that wanted a job. I think that’s pretty miraculous that we were able to do that. I’m proud of you.”
Board member Dr. Ronald Luethje then took the floor with a suggestion.
“May I suggest that we give everybody a round of applause of appreciation for their efforts,” he said.
Board members and administrators applauded the efforts.
“I want to piggyback what was said and really thank the principals,” Harris concluded. “For myself coming in new to Columbia and new to being a superintendent, to walk in and be greeted with facing the loss of staff members, was quite a greeting. It was truly a team effort. A lot of difficult decisions were made. In the end, it makes for the best for the students in the Columbia School District. They did a great job.”
