No cuts in SLPS 2009-10 budget

Tue, Jun 9, 2009    to del.icio.us

SPRING LAKE — Despite difficult economic times, the Spring Lake Board of Education on Monday night unanimously approved a 2009-10 fiscal year budget that will keep all current programming and staffing afloat — including the district's new aquatic center.

The numbers aren't necessarily pretty, but school board members said they feel fortunate the district anticipates no major hardships or layoffs.

Spring Lake Public Schools Director of Business Debi Miller said the district is projecting a $688,000 budget deficit this year, but that an unknown amount of federal funds will be kicking in where state revenues leave off. The projected deficit includes $370,000 from the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Miller said districts across the state are planning for a $565 per student decrease in state funding this year.

State Rep. Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, was present at Monday's school board meeting. He told board members that state educational funding now through Oct. 1 is projected to fall short by $220 million.

"It's an accounting change," Miller explained to the board. "We'll be receiving federal instead of state dollars. These numbers are based on what they perceive at this time."

The budget includes a $170,000 transfer from the general fund to the Fitness and Aquatic Center, which opened last fall and now has 1,100 members. Miller said the district is hoping the center will have "a break-even budget."

Miller said the budget includes a 0.08-mill reduction in property taxes due to debt retirement.

"We are able to reduce that a little bit, which is always good news for taxpayers," the business director said. "We feel this budget is conservative on the revenues and a tighter budget in expenditures than we may have seen in the past. This is one of the more difficult budgets I've written, due to the uncertainty in funding — but the budget maintains our current services and programs, and does not reduce any staff. As a district, we're pleased with that."

So were board members.

Trustee Dina Horne said she appreciates the conservatism built into the district's financial blueprint.

"These are good assumptions based on the information we have right now," Horne said. "We don't have all the numbers hard and fast right now. We're not in a desperate situation like many districts are."

Board Treasurer Lisa Ashcraft expressed similar sentiments.

"It's always so hard this early in the year to make predictions," Ashcraft said. "There are so many variables right now. It's always our goal never to cut anything that's going to affect students."

Meekhof said he believes Michigan school districts, industries and residents have the innate ability to survive.

"We're in for a rough bump for the next couple of years," he said.

But he said Michigan has adapted well to changing times in the past — from a fur-trading economy to a lumbering state to furniture and automotive industries that are now on the verge of collapse.

"We can transition again," Meekhof said.