District patrons asked for help

Spencer school board members have voted to reduce up to $741,812 from next year's budget.

Right before they did so, though, board member Ed VerSteeg apologized to the area residents who had gathered in the standing-room-only conference room Thursday night. By that point, board members had listened to well over two hours of public comments.

"I am testy. I am crabby and overwhelmed. And, if you talk to my wife, I am unbearable to be around," he said. "I am not anti-administration, anti-music or anti-sports. I'm not anti-Spencer anything. Nobody on this board is anti-Spencer."

"This has just been extremely overwhelming for everybody on the board," VerSteeg said of the 2009-10 budget-reduction process to date. " ... I'm going to do something that I didn't think I would do. I'm going to take what Dave Hessman said (during last Saturday's public hearing) and ask for help. If you want these things to come above the line, then we need to work together. Together -- not as factions for certain things. Together. ... He said, 'If you ask for help, people will show up.' I'm asking for help."

"I'm not asking for opinions like 'My program is better than your program,'" he continued. "I'm asking for help. I don't do these things (vote for reductions) out of malice toward anyone else; I do them because it's a numbers game and we have no choice. ... We need to work together to get this thing solved. ... And now, the board is going to move into session to get this budget reduction taken care of. This does not mean these cuts are permanent forever. Every dollar that comes in brings something else above the line. That's all I'm asking for."

Following the board's unanimous vote to cut positions, programs and other items for next year, those attending the meeting took a short break. One person who'd heard VerSteeg's plea for help offered him $6 to assist the district's general fund.

While some residents' emotions had settled a bit by Friday afternoon, Superintendent Greg Ebeling found himself in the midst of preparing for the next steps in the 2009-10 budget cutting process. He'd been directed by board members to start delivering official reduction notices to staff. These deliveries will occur over the next couple weeks.

"In the end, it's always good to have the process complete. But now it's putting back the pieces of the district that we're going to be within for next year," Ebeling said. "It's always a challenge to come back and find a way to fill in the gaps and make a workable system that's good for kids."

"We will find a way and we will do that," he assured. "Ultimately, we're trying to be optimistic from this point forward, in hopes that we aren't going to have to do this next year. If that happens, we're all going to be grateful. And if not, we can still feel like we got some good input through this process, and maybe something about how to make this process even better next year. I think that's important."

Spencer's school board members, meanwhile, tried to make the process of balancing the district's coffers less challenging next year with several ensuing actions taken Thursday night. One such move had them approving a budget guarantee resolution. The superintendent told board members this was an important step to take going into next budget year because it could protect the district's finances, especially since state legislators have not yet agreed how or if they'll fund the 4 percent allowable growth rate approved for 2009-10.

"If we (get funded) at 4 percent allowable growth for next year, like was promised, then the budget guarantee resolution will not be necessary. But, if they fund it at 2 percent, it is necessary at that point," Ebeling explained to the board. "What it does is it helps us show that our budget is not less than what it was last year, and we fill it in with property tax. With that said, we decrease other levies so that our property tax stays level. This resolution affects what we levy, but it doesn't affect our property tax rate. It would just reduce the amount that we would take from cash reserve."

"The bad part about this," he continued, "is that if they were to say 4 percent allowable growth, but only fund it at a 2 percent level, then our budget actually is less than next year. Because they've (said they'd fund) 4 percent, we wouldn't be able to use the budget guarantee, and the cash it would bring into the district would only be half of that. ... Technically, in Spencer, we are better off for them to say 2 percent than for them to say 4 percent and fund 2 percent."

In other budget-related action taken by the school board Thursday:

* A $719,961 at-risk program funding stream from the state was approved for next year.

* A $197,500 change order was authorized for a proposed classroom unit ventilator upgrade.

* Bruce Frink of Clarion was endorsed as the district auditor for the next three years.