MUSD budget cuts continue; district looking at all options

Even with a reduction in force saving the Maricopa Unified School District money, there are still some other areas that will need to be cut.

With the 3-2 governing board approval of Reduction in Force (RIF) at the meeting on April 13, the district will be in its third straight year of making cuts that affect the budget (see related story).

The board approved a RIF that included 60 names, and the district anticipates having 301 certified positions that will be part of the budget next year.

MUSD Superintendent Jeff Kleck gave the audience a chance to see the budget the district is working with and how it fluctuates with the decreases coming from the state.

“We are trying to present some data,” Kleck said during the meeting, referring to the graphs of the district’s budget over the next four years, which, in the graphs provided by the Arizona Association of School Business Officials, showed the increase in cuts that are needed as the state continues to cut funding for education.

“All indications that we have from those folks that deal with numbers all the time is that we are in this for four to five years. Last year we cut about $4.8 million from our budget, and, depending which version of the budget is adopted, we could be looking at $3 million to $3.4 million (in cuts),” he said.

No particular number that represents the budget the district is working with is readily available due to the fact that the budgets presented to the state on a yearly basis are compiled from allocated funds.

“It’s important to understand that a budget of this magnitude is a plan,” Director of Business Services Aron Rausch said. “Our resources available are set, but we can change how we allocate those resources. We always want to allocate those resources the most efficiently and effectively way as possible, so we’re constantly looking at the allocation of those resources.

“Whether there are cuts or increases, we want to look at the cost effectiveness and the use of our resources and use the research models for any curriculum or teaching design. With the rest of the non-teaching environment, we try to be as cost effective as possible.”

According to Rausch, those financial resources are significantly diminished due to state cuts, reduction from the expiring M & O budget override and the decline in enrollment.
 
With the newest state budget only awaiting a likely signature from Gov. Jan Brewer, the available money is likely being cut by another $183 million from K-12 education and could cause the district to have to cut even more.

The state has already cut $600 million over the past four years, according to a press release by the Arizona State Senate Democratic Caucus. However, with the growth of Maricopa (see related story) more money will be coming into the district, but not right away.

“We’re still trying to determine (how much we will get),” Rausch said. “What we understand is that it may take a couple of years to see any increase in the title funds and/or other grants. It’s always exciting to grow, and we have to work with whatever factors we have.”

Currently, employee salaries and benefits make up more than 85 percent of the budget. Wednesday’s RIF approval will save the district $2.8 million.

The balance of the budget, or about $5.8 million, according to Kleck, is set aside for non-employee related costs (NERCs) that include utilities, insurance and transportation.

“Basically, the 14 percent that we have in NERCs is rapidly eaten up in fixed costs,” Kleck said at the March 23 meeting. “There just aren’t places to go to cut the costs in the NERCs. Nearly half of the NERCs are set for water, electricity, lights, insurance and things that we just can’t cut–and those items are going up.”

MUSD has had some help keeping the budget manageable, with a grant from the Ak-Chin Indian Community and from Arizona’s sales tax.

The Ak-Chin grant, funded from gaming revenue, ends at the completion of the next fiscal year on June 30, 2012.

“We’re cutting by nickels and dimes,” Kleck said. “We anticipate that we would have to cut $3 million dollars, should the governor’s budget proposal of $180 million dollars be the budget that’s decided on. What we don’t know is the Senate version, which passed last week, which was $318 million in cuts and cost shifts. Our best estimate is that it would increase our potential cost cut to $3.4 million and maybe more.”

Despite the large number of cuts looming, MUSD has looked at proactive ways of bringing in revenue to relieve the financial burden.

Starting next year, the bond indebtedness will drop $100,000 according to Kleck. Those dollars may be used to computerize the HVAC (heating, ventilating, air conditioning), saving the district $300,000 of the $2.8 million included in the NERCs.

Another option the district is looking at is creating alternative energy by using solar panels that would help alleviate the consumption of energy.

“This is a wish list item. We have 22 acres by Global Water, and, if we made a solar farm out of it, we would be able to take the whole district off of the grid. That would save us $2.8 million.” Kleck said. 

Photo by Ash Friedrich