Dexter Superintendent Says 'Everything's on the Table' as School District Begins 2012 Budget Planning

As the school year winds down, Dexter Community Schools officials have turned their attention to budget planning for the fall.

Superintendent Mary Marshall met with parents on Thursday to discuss the district's goals in order to bring a proposed budget before the Dexter Community Schools Board of Education on June 30 for fiscal year 2012-2013.

"A lot of what we're doing in preparation for June is a guessing game," Marshall explained. "We have to bring a budget before our school board on June 30. The state doesn't start their fiscal year until October, so every year we have to make our best guess heading into the fall."

According to information provided by the district, 79.4 percent of the district's budget comes from the state's foundation allowance. For Dexter this year, that equaled $26.8 million, or $7,468 per each of Dexter's 3,595 students. The second largest budget amount comes from non-homestead property taxes (12.2 percent), state grants (7.5 percent), and local non-tax sources (1.6 percent).

"A lot of people don't really understand how schools are funded, so we're hoping these meetings with the public will give parents a better idea of what we're having to work with," Marshall said. "Our challenge right now is that there are three different budget proposals from Gov. (Rick) Snyder and we don't really know which one of those proposals or what combination of the three proposals will be in the rules of the game for us come June."

Snyder's latest draft budget has school aid funding accounting for 31 percent of the total budget. Snyder plans to move an additional $200 million from the General Fund to the School Aid Fund this year, with a 3 percent increase for higher education and 1 percent increase for K-12 over fiscal year 2012, according to the Huffington Post.

That increase in K-12 funding is tied to special programs and incentives, however, and will not raise the state's per-pupil allocation, which Snyder cut by $430 last year. Elementary and secondary schools will be rewarded for adopting best practices, like duel enrollment and online learning programs, which Dexter currently offers.

"Another challenge we have is the communication piece when the state's executive office makes statements that they are not reducing the foundation allowance, yet they increase the mandated cost of retirement," Marshall said. "I think community members get a sense that we have the same amount of revenue as last year, when in fact we have less revenue that we can use because some of that has to be paid back to the state to offset the retirement rate."

Snyder's proposed budget includes an increase of 3 percent from the current 24.46 percent of every dollar paid out in employee wages to fund the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System.

During the 2011-2012 fiscal year, Dexter's largest expenses were direct pupil funding (75.7 percent), and employee salaries and benefits (86.9 percent). To begin planning for the next fiscal year, Marshall said her office has been operating under several assumptions: a projected loss of 25 students in the fall, no increase in foundation allowance from the state, receiving additional funds for meeting Snyder's "best practices" criteria, and costs associated with planned changes in district programming (all-day kindergarten).

"We're considering all of our options right now," she said. "Everything in terms of the budget as well as the quality of our programs. We have to make some hard decisions on what opportunities we can afford to continue, or which programs we can offer in an alternate fashion."

One discussion has involved moving all of the district's sports to a pay to participate format.

"We are going to be having some discussions with the leadership of our district's support staff about the possibility of opening negotiations," Marshall said. "We're going to talk to them about what our issues are, and see what conversations they are willing to have with us."

Marshall said she is also interested in hearing feedback from parents, as well as the general public. A second budget meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on May 1 at Creekside Intermediate School. Marshall said she will also upload a budget presentation on the district's website for parents to view at their leisure. To view the budget presentation, visit www.dexterschools.org