Recent School Board Meeting Included Budget Work Session

The Cascade School Board gathered for a budget work session prior to the regularly scheduled meeting. Dwight Remick, CSD business manager, shared the MSOC (Materials, Supplies and Other Costs) budget details for the 2022-23 school year, both summarized and detailed by school building. The personnel part of the budget, not discussed at this meeting, is about 5.5 times larger than the MSOC portion.

Remick is basing the budget on an expected enrollment of 1225 FTE. This is still 75 students lower than the pre-COVID peak, when transitional kindergarten didn’t exist. So, the district numbers are still down almost 100.

The budget must account for higher prices in some categories. A big one is fuel for the transportation department. Other examples of increased cost include curriculum, food services’ commodities, insurance and legal fees.

As for curriculum costs, Remick said, “The overall cost of curriculum and related support continues to increase each year, and certain core subjects are definitely more expensive than others. For example, in the area of the arts and music [which received new curricula last year], while the number of students involved might be the same, the number of teachers, classrooms impacted, and time involved is significantly lower than math, reading or sciences.” This year the math curriculum is being updated, with a higher price tag.

In regard to the legal fees, he said, “During this past year the district experienced a major increase in legal fees due to questions involving COVID restrictions and impacts to personnel. I have increased the budget in this area based upon the expectation that this will continue during the next year.”

The greenhouse adds new, albeit small costs to the budget for supplies and contractual services.

Maintenance contractual services are doubled. “The increase in the area of maintenance is to respond to the fact that during the first three to five years after the buildings were completed, a lot of the service work and repairs we covered under warranty. Now that those warranties are expiring, we are having to pay for those services and repairs,” explained Remick.

Extra-curricular budgets for CHS and IRMS rose last year, with just a small bump up this year. More budgetary support was needed when sport and attendance fees were removed for the sake of equity. This year, the travel to state competitions needed higher funding.

Each building is budgeted about $225 per student. Remick said they can change the allocation, but they have to stay within those limits.

CTE is an exception and is funded at a higher rate ($1000 per student at CHS, for example), and utilizes special funds from the state. “The State has special requirements for CTE funding that makes it very important that those funds be spent first, or they are subject to recapture,” said Remick.

Leftover ESSR funds from the federal government are incorporated into the budget, and will be expended this year. Additionally, there is $500,000 buffer (expense and revenue) built into the budget for unknowns. This accounts for grants, changes in staffing, enrollment adjustments and other factors.

Due to the fact that there is high turnover in staffing, that portion of the budget is harder to pinpoint; a lot depends on each hire and how much experience they have, which is connected to salary. Remick said he’s cautiously optimistic. In September, if enrollment is lower than expected and/or payroll is higher than expected, he will have to react and make changes.

The board will vote to approve all the budgets at a meeting on July 18^th.

The general meeting began next, with board member Mike Worden unable to attend. Superintendent Tracey Beckendorf-Edou gave an update on technology, beginning with praise for the diligent help of IT specialists Nick and Devon, who are NCESD staff assigned to CSD. During the pandemic the district reached a one-to-one ratio of computers to students, and, for the recent, more “normal” school year, the laptops continued to be sent home with students for technology equity. Board chair Trey Ising asked about the status of the returned laptops after being shoved in backpacks for a year. Beckendorf-Edou wasn’t sure what number were damaged but thought, in general, they were pretty durable. The district has improved its check-in and check-out process.

CSD continues to provide internet access with hot spots to about 50 families in need for the same reason. Zoom meetings involving parents have also been continued since the beginning of COVID. They add ease of access for meetings such as with counselors or for an individual education plan session.

A large screen was installed in the Alpine Lakes Elementary (ALPS) gym for the sake of PE instructional videos. The screen includes protection from damage from flying balls. A similar one will be installed at Peshastin Dryden Elementary (PD) over the summer, but it’s more challenging because the PD gym wall construction is not easily weight-bearing.

The main instructional platforms, Seesaw for the younger grades and Canvas for third grade and up, have been utilized for a few years now and work pretty well for assignments and communication but are a bit clunky in terms of syncing grades to Skyward as well as the extra security connected to two-factor authentication. Staff will be trained in August at three tiers, depending on their needs.

The board approved sixteen personnel actions, with the majority being hires. Notable was the retirement of elementary school PE teacher Paula West, who worked in CSD for 29 years and has been an educator for 37 years. The superintendent and board thanked West for her service and wished her well.

During policy review, the board approved a waiver of high school graduation credits for the rare occurrence of a student coming to the district from an institutional educational facility to assist in that student’s opportunity to graduate.

The articulation agreement between CSD and Wenatchee Valley College in terms of the two fire science classes is official, enabling students to earn four WVC credits on completion. Beckendorf-Edou shared how she got to observe the fire science students’ practice prescribed burn on a hillside up the Chumstick. This increased her understanding of the seriousness of the fire danger in certain parts of the district.

The librarians from CHS, IRMS and ALPS prepared 40 boxes of books for surplus, which was approved by the board. “The librarians have software that tells them the last time a book has been checked out. They also consider the date of copyright,” explained Beckendorf-Edou. “There is a process regarding surplus. First, it is sent out to other school districts. Then it is sent out to staff. Finally, it could be available to the community.”

For the good of the order, NCESD Superintendent Michelle Price gave a short virtual presentation recognizing Beckendorf-Edou, who received a certificate of appreciation from the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA). The award is, “in recognition of outstanding contribution to the mission and goals of WASA and to the students of Washington State.” Price lauded Beckendorf-Edou for her leadership in CSD and also her support of other leaders across the state.