'Not much wiggle room'
LOREN BENOIT/PressCoeur d'Alene School District teachers listen in during a CDA board budget meeting Monday night at the Midtown Meeting Center.
LOREN BENOIT/PressNan Spinazza, a math teacher at Canfield Middle School, voices her comments on the Coeur d'Alene school budget during a meeting Monday evening at the Midtown Meeting Center.
By KEITH COUSINS
Staff Writer
COEUR d’ALENE — Mary Hamilton took time Monday to remind the Coeur d’Alene School District Board of Trustees that one of the district’s goals is to attract and retain quality teachers.
“Stand by those goals and show you can put your money toward those goals in the form of teacher pay,” Hamilton, a third-grade teacher at Borah Elementary School, added.
Hamilton was one of a handful of teachers, whose union is currently involved in contract negotiations with the district, who spoke during a special meeting of the board Monday that featured a presentation on next year’s budget. Director of Finance and Operations Brian Wallace told trustees he estimates the district will take in $75.7 million in revenue next year, the majority of which comes from the state and is based on average attendance numbers.
“Our average daily attendance is difficult to predict,” Wallace told trustees. “Just because enrollment goes up, it doesn’t mean the average daily attendance will go up as well.”
Last year’s budget, which is due for approval and submission to the state well before attendance averages can be calculated, estimated the district would have a higher attendance rate. However, Wallace said the average ended up being lower than the enrollment numbers.
More than 85 percent of the district's expenditures, Wallace said, are allocated toward employee salary.
“That’s very typical of a public school district,” Wallace added.
In addition to the estimated $50 million the district is supposed to receive from the state in general funding, Wallace said the second-largest source of funding comes from local tax revenue. Next year, the district is expecting to receive approximately $16 million in levy funding from its tax base.
“What kind of wiggle room do we have in this budget?” Trustee Tom Hearn asked once the presentation concluded.
“There’s not much wiggle room in this budget at all,” Wallace later replied.
The district’s fund balance, according to Wallace, showcases how tightly the budget was planned. At the end of the year, if no issues arise that would require additional funding, the district’s fund balance will account for just over 6 percent of its funds.
Although the district has set a 5 percent floor for its fund balance, Wallace said it would require 8 percent to keep the district running for one month.
“A school district should have a month of expenditures in the bank,” he added. “And we’re not there.”
Teachers composed the entire group of those wishing to participate in public comment. One teacher, Nan Spinazza, began her remarks by letting district officials know the union’s negotiating team has the support of the entire staff, regardless of how many show up for the public negotiation sessions.
Spinazza, who works at Canfield Middle School, then went on to state she feels the district’s budgeting process consistently puts employee pay at the bottom of the list of priorities. She added there was a great deal of fanfare regarding the state’s additional financial commitment to teacher pay, but the money is not reaching teachers.
“You spent our money,” Spinazza said. “I just don’t understand where the money is for our raise.”
The budget is scheduled to be formally voted on by trustees during a public meeting on June 26.