Posted: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 1:00 am | Updated: 11:53 am, Wed Nov 25, 2009. By Scott Goss
Superintendent Carl Roberts unveiled a significant chunk of his 2007-08 budget proposal for Cecil County public schools Tuesday, including requests for 11 new positions and $2.6 million in new spending.
The full amount of the superintendent’s total budget request, however, is still unknown.
While the school board heard the superintendent’s proposed expenses for administrative services — including student transportation and building maintenance — larger budget categories such as teacher salaries, classroom supplies and special education won’t be made public until a Feb. 26 hearing.
“It’s not because I won’t tell you,” Roberts said of his budget proposal’s still unknown bottom line.
“It’s because I can’t. We’re still working on the other sections of the budget, so I won’t know the total (amount requested) until next week.”
The requested budgets for the six categories presented Tuesday totaled nearly $29.5 million, or $2.6 million more than what was approved under the school system’s current budget.
Those same six categories made up about 16.6 percent of the school system’s approved $162 million spending plan for the current school year.
If that trend continues, Roberts’ total budget request could reach near $178 million, or $16 million more than was approved for the current fiscal year.
The superintendent, meanwhile, said Henry Shaffer, his associate superintendent of administrative services, would continue to look for ways to trim some of the spending outlined on Tuesday.
“Some of what we’ve talked about tonight might not be in the final version that gets presented to you for a vote,” he told the school board. “Mr. Shaffer’s goal is to spend as little as possible on administrative services so we can spend that money on education services.”
In the category of administration, Shaffer presented a budget request that would increase spending by nearly $875,000, or 25 percent more than the $3.55 million approved for the current school year.
One of the largest increases in that category would be for additional computer software, including a proposal to spend $260,000 on a software application that would extend the school system’s online reporting of grades to the elementary school level.
Shaffer also proposed adding a new $56,000-a-year software application developer position and two new $48,000-a-year computer network technicians.
The budget for student transportation would increase by more than $900,000 in spending under Roberts’ proposal, or nearly 11 percent more than the $9.37 million approved for the current year.
About $560,000 of that increase would be used to provide school system’s 11 bus contractors with larger per-bus allocations to cover two new routes and separate the bus routes currently shared by Perryville’s high and middle schools. The hiring of a new $56,000-a-year transportation specialist is also included.
Roberts proposed a nearly $500,000 increase in the plant operation category, or a 4.4 percent increase over the $11.1 million approved for the current school year.
Included in that proposal is a plan to relocate the school system’s current warehouse facility on Blue Ball Road to an as-yet-undisclosed location that could cost as much as $175,000 more in annual lease payments.
The cost of maintaining school facilities would increase by nearly $225,000 under Roberts’ request, or 6.3 percent more than the $3.56 million approved for the current school year. That increase includes the proposed hiring of lead plumber and a utility worker, both of whom would be paid between $40,000 and $50,000 a year.
In the category of capital outlay, Roberts has proposed increasing funding by nearly $85,000 or 47 percent over the current budget. Most of that increase would go toward the salary of a $57,000-a-year field inspector to help watch over the school system’s various construction projects.
Following next week’s presentation on the superintendent’s proposed budget for education services, the school board will hold a public hearing on the entire spending plan March 6.
The board will then reconvene on March 12 to vote on whether to send an approved or amended version of his request to the Cecil County commissioners.sgoss@cecilwhig.com
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