Schools

School Board Discusses 2012-2013 Budget, Opposes Staff Cuts

The budget's first reading led to an evaluation of district technology support positions.

The West St. Paul – Mendota Heights – Eagan area school board conducted the first reading of the district’s 2012-2013 Preliminary Budget on Monday evening.

The district is on track to gain $54,519,250 in revenue and to spend $52,414,444, with an ending fund balance of $4,013,514 for the 2012-2013 school year.

Monday’s board meeting was largely dominated by discussion of and opposition to one particular budget reduction, a proposed technology restructure with the potential to save the district $100,000.

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The restructure, which included a proposed $75,000 reduction in technology support staff cuts, was met with resistance from the board. The proposal called for a district reduction of technology support staff from eight fulltime employees to four and a half fulltime employees.

“I would rather see those positions remain,” said board member Byron Schwab.

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According to Schwab, the restructure opposes the district’s strategic goals, which include student achievement and development, resource management, teaching and learning enhancement and stakeholder engagement.

School board treasurer Pat Barnum expressed concern that the restructure cuts fell too close to the classroom.

“Whenever we propose change, there’s a natural resistance,” said Mark Spurr, chair of the board. “I can relate to some of the concerns that have been expressed.”

The board also discussed the benefits of recording and tracking the role of the technology support positions being considered through metrics. Concrete information regarding the significance of technological assistance would help the board build a knowledge base from which to approach the issue of retaining technology support positions in the future.

Board member David Koziol suggested the district institute a centralized logging system for problem tickets to track the types of support work in which employees are investing their time.

The board’s eventual conclusion was that the $100,000 technology restructure reduction should be changed to a $32,000 reduction.

Forgoing the $75,000 in staff cuts is a decision that will affect the budget’s ending fund balance.

The district budget will be revisited at the school board’s next meeting on June 18.

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