OXFORD – After nearly four months, the Oxford school board and administration have finished their part of the long, painful budget process. Now the final decision regarding the $17,228,700 budget rests in the hands of district taxpayers.
On Tuesday, the Oxford Academy and Central School District’s board of education approved the latest draft of the district’s proposed budget for the 2009-10 academic year.
“It was a balancing act,” said Superintendent Randy Squier, describing how school leaders did all they could to maintain programs and academic offerings in the school while at the same time keeping the economic concerns of the district’s taxpayers in mind.
The proposed budget represents an increase in spending of $93,637, or .55 percent, over last year’s budget. The impact on taxpayers will be an estimated increase in the tax levy of 2.5 percent.
Keeping the budget largely flat was not merely a matter of keeping spending on par with the current year. With continually rising health care costs and contractual obligations for staff salary increases, significant cuts were necessary.
“It’s not the way you want to have to do it,” Squier said, “but we understand the position the community is in.”
The most painful for the district are staffing cuts necessitated not just by the economic situation, but also the district’s declining enrollment.
Four current K-6 teaching positions will be cut, as well as the health teacher shared by the middle and high school. Two more positions, those of a middle school math teacher and the high school librarian, will be left vacant when those individuals retire at the end of the current school year. One Licensed Teaching Assistant vacated through attrition will also be abolished, and five current teacher’s aides will be reduced to part time.
Additionally, the district’s mail carrier position will be eliminated, and they will not hire summer help to aid in facility maintenance during the summer months, the superintendent explained.
At the same time, several positions will be added. They include two special education positions required to bring the district into compliance with State mandates, and an English position, currently vacant, which will be filled, Squier said. Three part-time teachers aides will also be hired.
The district administrator expressed regret over the need to cut any positions. “They are all very good people,” he said. “They’ll be sorely missed.”
Other budget cuts were necessary as well, including reducing the number of athletic teams offered. A total of five JV and modified sports teams will be eliminated, Squier explained, none of which had sufficient interest to be fielded in the current year such as JV boys basketball. As for which teams will be cut, the district will be flexible to a certain extent and see where interest lies before making a final decision.
Despite the cuts, Squier assured, “there will be a place for every kid” interested in participating in a sport.
Also being reduced will be the number of slots available for High School and Middle School summer school.
“There will be enough slots for any kid who is failing or needs them to graduate,” the superintendent said. Others will have the option of paying for the summer classes themselves, at a cost of approximately $240 per course.
The district will also be eliminating a number of co-curricular activities from the budget and the advisory stipends that go with them. “These are clubs that have not been run for several years,” Squier explained, like Mock Trial and Winterguard.
Materials and supply budgets will also be cut across the board, as will the amount allotted for technology equipment and services.
“We reduced some of the services we are receiving and our annual tech purchases will be less than they have been,” Squier said. The district will continue with its schedule for replacing servers and classroom computers as necessary, he added.
Additional savings will be realized by outsourcing the district’s business office function to DCMO BOCES’ Central Business Office. While this will not have a direct impact on the 2009-10 budget, the district will see a reimbursement for part of this expense in BOCES aid the following year.
Now that the proposed budget has been approved by the board of education, the task becomes “selling” it to district residents who will cast their vote on May 19.
In addition to the public information hearing, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday May 7 in the Primary School Multi-Purpose Room, Squier said he will also meet with different community groups to discuss the details of the proposed spending plan.
The superintendent has already met with Mrs. Dorsey’s eighth grade English class to answer questions about the budget. “They asked tough questions,” he said.
The Oxford Teacher’s Association has spoken out against the budget proposal, particularly regarding the fact that while teaching positions are being cut, no corresponding cuts have been made on the administrative side.
“Once again there is a common thread,” said OTA president Jonathan Rogers. “We bear the burden and they don’t share the burden.”