Over the next 90 days, the Shoreline School District will trim nearly $2.8 million from its expenditures.
That was the decision of the district’s school board at its Jan. 9 meeting. District staff presented responses to an outside consultant’s review of errors on the 2005-06 budget.
On Jan. 3, the board heard that errors were made in the 2005-06 district budget. Revenues were overestimated by approximately $2.8 million.
The consultant recommended a 90-day plan that would trim future expenditures and establish procedures to provide for more oversight in the future.
The district’s first priority will be establishing an expenditure-reduction plan, Assistant Superintendent Sue Walker said. This means that any non-contractual expenditure, such as overtime and time paid for outside-of-class activities, is at risk of being cut.
“One of our primary goals is to not affect staffing,” School Board President Mike Jacobs said. “Let’s focus first on these discretionary expenditures.”
Supplies and travel expenses will be among the first to be trimmed. Items designated for purchase with grants or donated funds will not be affected.
“The teachers and everyone else does their absolute best for the kids,” said Sandy Bailey, a teacher in the district. “At some point, good hearts are not enough — we need resources.”
Teachers, bus drivers and other district employees spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. Their questions centered around what the district would be doing to keep a similar situation from happening in the future. In 2002, a $7.2 million error was discovered, leading to the district finishing that year with a negative account balance.
“We are thoroughly disappointed with this,” District Superintendent James Welsh said in a Jan. 10 interview. “To have this occur has been very disappointing and very frustrating to the teachers and myself.”
While the 2005-06 budget was being developed data submitted to the state on Aug. 30, 2005 showed 3,491 students enrolled in grades 9-12. However, the data shows 3,538 students in the same grades enrolled in the vocational education program, which is mathematically impossible.
Using that number, the district would be entitled to $44.37 million from the state. Actual enrollment figures show 706 students in the vocational education program, nearly one-fifth the original number. The result is nearly $2.2 million less in state funding.
That error followed a budget presentation at an Aug. 22 board meeting showing projected revenue of $85.1 million and a previous balance of $2.3 million.
An executive summary presented to the board, however, showed an anticipated revenue of $83.9 million and only $1.7 million in carryover. On Aug. 30 a new budget was sent to the state showing revenues at $82.97 million.
As part of the 90-day plan, the district will be working on the 2006-07 budget as well. The process will feature much more oversight, Walker said. Expenditure estimations will be based on a review of previous years’ actual spending.
Welsh said that criminal charges remain a possibility and that the district’s findings will be reported to the state during the district’s annual audit.
He would not speculate who could be targeted for a criminal investigation. But the consultant’s report points out that Shoreline’s former comptroller, Paul Flemming, who resigned in late October, submitted a different budget to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction than what the board approved.
“We are examining all evidence in regards to the inaccurate information and the filing of the two reports,” Welsh said.
District officials will receive a monthly report on reductions to the district’s expenditures, he said.
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