School districts work through budget cuts

Area school district leaders are sharpening their math skills as they attempt to work through state education budget cuts.

School districts' largest, but most uncertain revenue source, is state funding, said Allan Markley, Logan-Rogersville superintendent. This year's state budget cuts are affecting schools in the Ozarks in different degrees.

"Our overall state budget cut (for Rogersville) looks like it will be close to the $375,000 range," Markley said. That amount represents about 5 percent of the Logan-Rogersville school budget, Markley said.

On the other hand, the Nixa school district is facing $1.6 million in cuts and reductions, said Superintendent Stephen Kleinsmith.

"We are deficit spending close to a half-million dollars on top of the cuts and reductions, so we're taking a $2 million blow to next year's budget," Kleinsmith said. "And that's at a time when we continue to grow."

The school district was only given a three-week heads up, Kleinsmith said, as to how much would be allocated by the state.

"We've been holding off on many critical orders and many essential items because of the delay," he said.

State funding for each school is determined by the state's School Foundation Program formula. According to that formula, the Nixa school district will receive an estimated $8.4 million from the state, according to Brenda Rantz, Nixa schools' director of finance. Because that amount is significantly less than the district had hoped, Kleinsmith said, there is no choice but to cut back on programs and services. The Nixa school district has initiated four waves of cuts and reductions that will go into effect with the 2003-04 school year, he said.

"We will do everything possible to maintain quality and quantity of programs and services," Kleinsmith said.

Markley said his school district is more fortunate than others.

"At this point we're not going to cut any programs. We have good solid balances," he said.

The Logan-Rogersville district is willing to dip into reserves to keep current programs active for the upcoming school year, he said. However, if budget cuts continue, the district will be forced to review programs and determine the feasibility of keeping them in the future, he said.

Through the state foundation formula, Logan-Rogersville schools will receive approximately $1,450 per student from the state, Markley said. The total amount depends on enrollment figures that will not be complete until September, but Markley said he is estimating about $2.6 million from the state.

Cherie Alderson, director of financial services for Springfield public schools, said this year's amount of state-allocated funds is much less than what the district had hoped to receive, and therefore, many cuts and reductions will be necessary, she said.

"We're anticipating $20,444,000 for basic formula monies from the state," she said.

The largest cuts affected faculty and support staff, Alderson said.

"We made cuts on expenditures in staffing, primarily," Anderson said.

Other significant budget cuts include reducing the major repair budget by $1 million, she said. She added that $445,000 was cut from the curriculum materials and supplies budget.

Markley said budget cuts are not necessarily harder on small towns in general.

"It's harder on districts that have lower assessed valuations," Markley said, because school districts that lack commercial development do not have as much local tax revenue. "They receive bigger state payments because they don't have as much local effort.

"They're banking on that money from the state. Even if their voters raised the tax levy 30 cents, it wouldn't help them that much because their assessed valuation isn't very high."

Kleinsmith said Nixa schools have enacted some minor revenue-generating initiatives, such as student parking fees and co-curricular activity fees. The school district can ask the PTA, booster clubs, parents and other supporters for fund-raising assistance, but it won't be enough to meet the magnitude of need, he said.

Alderson said Springfield schools are also limited on revenue options.

"The only other revenue source we have would be to increase our local levy," she said. The school board will discuss that issue at a meeting later this summer, she said.