Trustees approve $6 mil. budget

Facing an uncertain time in state funding, trustees for the Clarendon Consolidated Independent School District approved a $6 million budget during a called meeting last Tuesday, August 31.

During the public hearing prior to the vote, Superintendent Monty Hysinger said the budget for 2010-2011, which is more than $130,000 lower than the current budget, is extremely lean and could be a sign of things to come.

“This is our toughest budget in a long time,” Hysinger told the board. “There is no cushion, and any extra expenses will require a budget amendment and will reduce our fund balance. And it could get worse over the next two years.”

With the state facing an $18 billion shortfall, Hysinger said schools are being told to
prepare for a future loss of about ten percent of their state funding, which for CISD would be about $379,500.

Hysinger outlined possible strategies the school might employ if such cuts became reality, including eliminating positions through retirements and attrition.

Part of the public school’s problem is also a declining enrollment, which is on key to state funding. CISD had 583 students last year, but the new budget is prepared expecting only 512 students.

“There are only two ways to get more money,” Hysinger said. “Either we get more kids or we try to get voters to okay a higher tax rate.”

Trustees also approved keeping the school’s current tax rate at $1.04 per $100 valuation, which is the highest the rate can be set without going to the voters.
By law, the school district could ask for voters to approve as much as an additional 13 cents, and the extra money raised locally would also generate added state revenue. But for now, CISD is not seeking higher tax rate.

“Some districts have done it,” Hysinger said of asking voters to raise taxes, “but others have tried and failed.”

Trustees noted that Clarendon currently has a lower school tax rate than many districts in Region 16.

In the public hearing, Enterprise publisher Roger Estlack asked Hysinger to discuss a proposal that has been floated about the state going after school fund balances.

The superintendent said there is believed to be about $7 billion held in school district fund balances throughout the state, and he said there has been some talk that the state may go after that money and allow schools to keep only 2½ months of reserves. CISD would require about $1.2 million for 2½ months, and currently the school has a fund balance of about $1.8 million.

In other school business, trustees approved an agreement which allows Clarendon High School students to take college classes at Clarendon College and receive high school and college credit. Currently 57 students are taking 58 college classes through a program which costs parents nothing as long as the student completes the class.