SB-2 reality check? Shaker board will hold budget request to +1.4%

BELMONT — Despite insurance premium and teacher retirement costs rising a total of $309,674, alone, the Shaker Regional School Board voted Tuesday to present to voters a 2017-18 budget that would only go up $287,085 or 1.4 percent over this year.

But the only capital expenditures proposed in the plan is $25,000 to pave the parking lot at the Canterbury Elementary School.

A separate warrant article will include raises for teachers that were agreed to as part of a new collective bargaining agreement.

The proposed $20,840,634 budget will be discussed by residents of Canterbury and Belmont at two public hearings, the first of which is Dec. 12 at Canterbury Elementary School and the second of which is Dec. 19 at the Belmont Middle School.

"I feel this budget is based on what we feel will provide an appropriate education for our students while still being fiscally responsible to the taxpayers," said Interim Superintendent Michael Tursi.

The district had to overcome a revenue decrease of $694,000 in the 2017-18 budget, partially because of a drop in income in the state "adequacy" grant of $84,409 plus a loss of $31,292 in "catastrophic" special education aid.

The balance of the drop in revenues is because the district used $500,000 toward this year's budget that came from an extraordinary high surplus from the year before.

"While it's was too early to project what the 2016-17 surplus will be, we know it won't be $500,000," said Business Administrator Debbie Thompson.

Thompson said voters last year chose to use $109,000 of the fund balance to offset the revenue but won't be able to do that this year.

"Had we not had the large increases in insurance and teacher retirements, we likely could have had the budget come in lower that last year," she said.

Tursi said the proposed budget preserves all of the educational and curriculum programs currently in place and will not require any reductions in staff.

This is also the first time Shaker Regional School District voters will vote under the provisions of SB2, or the Official Ballot Act, which passed at the March 2016 annual district meeting. Rather than attending the district meeting, where budgets can be altered, voters will attend an SB2 session where the budget can only be amended.

The amended budget goes on a ballot to the voters who give it an up or down vote. If it fails to pass by a simple majority on election day, a default budget goes into effect. The default budget is based on last year's budget plus contractual agreements minus one-time only expenses.