April 12, 2022 at 4:00 PM - Board of Education Budget Discussions

Rationale:  In attendance:  Chair Butch Campbell, Vice Chair David Settles, Wes Ballard, Roseann Barton, Becky Goff, Amanda Moore, and Jimmy Richardson.

Staff:  Dr. Trey Duke, Sheri Arnette, Ralph Ringstaff, Kim Williams, Lisa Trail, Joe Marlin, Greg Lyles, Angela Fairchild, Beth Prater, Sandy Scheele, Cathy Pressnell, Sara Walker, and Kim Fischer.

Assistant City Attorney Elizabeth Taylor. City Liaison Bill Shacklett was absent.


 

Rationale:  Before budget discussions, Dr. Duke began the meeting by explaining  the zone waiver process and the forms and denial letters that are sent to parents. He explained to the board that we need to stick to this process as closely as possible.

Elizabeth Taylor explained the zone waiver committee process to the board. Ms. Taylor told the board that according to Board Policy 6.205, we will need a representative from the board on the Zone Waiver Committee. 
Ms. Taylor explained that we record all meetings in case of an appeal, and the ruling of the committee is final.  Parents can appeal to the chancery court.

Dr. Duke explained that this committee doesn't limit appeals just to city students. The committee would hear county students as well.

Chair Campbell asked if a parent can appeal to the entire board. Ms. Taylor said no, the decision of the committee is final, unless there is a policy change. If there was a policy change, and it became possible to go before the entire board to appeal, it would have to be done at an open meeting where possibly the parents' personal issues would be heard publicly. 

Wes Ballard asked if parents are aware of the ten-day deadline, and Dr. Duke explained that yes, it is in our policy.

Becky Goff asked if there was a timeframe for appeals. Dr. Duke explained that there is no timeframe set, but we would want to move quickly in order to get teachers placed. 

Amanda Moore referred to an email that she had received from Elizabeth Taylor regarding a board policy that might need to be aligned with this process.

Ms. Taylor said that we have policies 6.205 and 6.206.  6.205 mirrors 6.206 except for one sentence. Ms. Taylor's recommendation is to delete board policy 6.206, and add that one line to 6.205,

Roseann Barton asked if parents appeal and their decision is reversed, that might lead other parents to decide to appeal, she asked if that was possible.  Dr. Duke explained that we would not schedule appeal hearings until we knew how many appeals we had.

Ms. Taylor said that we have not crafted the responses yet, but we want to be clear as to why they were denied.

 

Rationale:  Dr. Duke began the budget discussion by presenting a Power Point.  He explained that the budget is tied to the district's five-year plan, but not everything in the five-year plan is in this budget.

Dr. Duke reviewed the agenda for the night along with next week's budget discussion agenda.  He told the board that the Power Point was also in their budget notebook.

Dr. Duke reviewed the goals for the budget year.  He explained that the current fund balance is 10.2 million dollars, minus bonuses.  He said that the goal is to keep a 7% fund balance. 

Dr. Duke reviewed Budget Limitations.  He explained the process that he and the staff went through to make decisions regarding the budget.
He told the board that budget input forms were sent out, the budget process was discussed in department meetings, collaborative principal meetings, and the Teacher Advisory Council meetings.

Dr. Duke said that after all meetings concluded, the consensus was that social emotional help was number one in all groups.  Dr. Duke also covered other concerns that he heard from the meetings from teachers and principals. He added that teachers did not place raises as their number one concern.  He said that spoke a lot about the quality of our teachers.

Jimmy Richardson asked if there were any needs for more funding in the line of professional development.  Dr. Duke explained that there was funding available for professional development for teachers.

Roseann Barton agreed that the issue of behavior needed to be addressed first.

Dr. Duke asked the board to think of things that they felt were non-negotiable as they discussed the budget.

Dr. Duke also explained the new disbursement of funds in student allocation to allow for an administrative discernment line.

Amanda Moore said that she appreciated the explanation of student allocations and happy that principals had discretion to spend those allocations.

Jimmy Richardson asked if the funds can be rearranged once we have allocation from TISA. Dr. Duke said that we can do that next year.

Chair Butch Campbell asked if this is the amount that we would send to charter schools per student.  Dr. Duke said that we would actually send much more money per student than this allocation. Dr. Duke said that 
it's about the needs of the students at each school.



 

Rationale:  Dr. Duke reviewed the proposed positions changes with the board.  He explained the addition of the following positions and their impact on the budget:

Behavior Support Coordinator
Increase School Counselors
Add 4th Behavior Interventionist
Registered Behavior Technicians
Director of Human Resources
Mechanic
District Attendance Clerk

Dr. Duke reviewed the current staffing standards with the board. He discussed the addition of the TNCorps Educational Assistants and their roles.  He also explained to the board that plans were to equally disperse special area teachers.

Dr. Duke also talked about bus drivers and the transportation portion of the budget.

Dr. Duke said that we will come back next week with a recommendation for the budget, but will get the board’s opinion before they vote on the budget on April 26.

 

Rationale:  Ralph Ringstaff talked about the salary comparisons with other districts and businesses.

Dr. Duke discussed the proposed 3% raise for all employees.  He explained that every percentage raise will cost the district $769,350.00
He gave the board the percentages and the cost to the district.
3% increase is 2,308,050.00
4% increase is 3,077,400.00
Dr. Duke also suggested to the board that they bring the starting teacher salary up to $45,000.00.

Dr. Duke explained that if the board would like to do more of an increase in pay for all employees, we can, but it will cut into other things that are being proposed. He stated that surrounding systems gave more of a raise to employees, but we could not support that.  He also stated that most of our employees would receive a step increase along with the 3% increase.

Dr. Duke said that the intent is to come with a 3% increase except for certain positions that needed to be increased. 


 

Rationale:  Dr. Duke discussed the differentiated pay plan with the board along with 6th grade hard to staff teaching positions.

Dr. Duke suggested a retention bonus of $1000 for all school-based certified personnel if they are employed on the last day of school.

He asked if the board would want to invest this money for a one-time bonus for certified personnel, or go up to a 4% increase across the board which is a recurring cost. 

Chair Butch Campbell said that his thoughts were that if we do something for teachers, we need to do something for classified staff too.

Becky Goff said that she feels that teachers have more of a responsibility than others, and she felt the bonus was justified.

Amanda Moore said that it would be a little more detrimental to the students for a teacher to leave than an educational assistant. 

Roseann Barton said that there is no way to put a cost on staff.

Wes Ballard asked what the exit interviews say about staff that leave our system. Mr. Ringstaff said that he would get that information to him at the next budget discussion meeting.

David Settles said that if the $1000 bonus will fix a teacher leaving mid-year, then give it to them, but he would like to know why they are leaving.

Dr. Duke said that on Thursday when the board receives their budget notebook, it will have what is included and what is excluded in the budget. We will cover that at the next budget meeting.




 

Rationale:  Kim Williams told the board that we hope to continue under the waiver for next year in the nutrition department.  She explained that this cafeteria budget is based on what if's, but she wanted to give them something for their consideration.

Ms. Williams explained that after presenting all of the items that we budgeted for earlier in the year, the cost of these items is coming in much more expensive than originally budgeted. They will more than likely have to get new quotes on these items.

Ms. Williams also discussed school lunch charges rising for next year.



 

Rationale:  Ralph Ringstaff discussed the increases to the ESP budget in salaries
and tuition reimbursement. 

Dr. Duke said that we have a waiting list of over 500 students who have been there all year, and we have less staff than in year's past.


 

Rationale:  The meeting adjourned at 7:42 p.m.