Budget concerns on the horizon for Somers

The school board for Somers Middle School and Lakeside Elementary discussed upcoming budget concerns during the Jan. 18 meeting. Current enrollment numbers recently became available with an increase in enrollment by 20 since last year.

Lakeside had 353 students on Jan. 12, 2011 and had 392 as of Jan. 12, 2012. SMS had 206 students on Jan. 12, 2011 and had 187 as of Jan. 12, 2012.

“So, 58 percent of the year is gone, and based on the facts and figures I feel good about how we're sitting on our budget (for this year),” Superintendent Casey Love said. “We're doing really well this year, and that's going to come get us at some point.”

Although the schools are currently doing fine with their budget, the school board is planning for potential trouble in the future as student population is expected to drop, thus dropping funding as well.

“One thing we talked about was a $240,000 levy and the maximum was around $450,000,” board member Mike Schlegel said. “If we did one, we would have to do another later; so might as well do it all at once.”

Board member Dave Alexander worked with Schlegel on the financial committee, but was not present at the meeting to elaborate.

“One thing that came up, as unpopular as it is, is to do redistricting to save money,” Schlegel said. “These are some decisions we're going to have to talk about in the near future, how much to run the levy for and have some understanding of what we can do if it fails.”

A drop of 17 students is anticipated due to a large 8th grade class leaving and a small 6th grade class coming in, thus creating a “considerable” drop in funding.

“We've got a lot of classrooms filled to the brim, it's an overload on the staff and you can sense it,” Love said. “A lot of people are doing jobs they didn't have to do in the past. We have 77 kids coming in next year and we will be at 197 kids next year, it is pretty full.”

The school board has until March 29 to make a decision about the budget, whether or not to request a levy, and if so, how much.

“Without any changes, we're looking at a shortfall for next year,” Love said. “That's my real concern, we know we're going to lose that funding when the small 6th grade class moves to 7th.”

The school board will have workshops in the near future to decide what their best move would be.

“I don't think anyone will notice a change in taxes because it was prorated for six years,” board member Alice Blasdel said.

The board was concerned that voters could be overwhelmed by school tax increases due to voters not understanding that Kalispell and Somers are separate districts.

“If we ran it for a dollar a month per person or even doubled it to two, you can't buy a candy bar for that,” Lakeside Elementary Principal John Thies said.

The vote on school funding for next year will be held on May 8 of this year, giving time for the district to educate the voters about the issue and why a levy would be beneficial, should they decide to request one.

“There's a lot of grumbling out there with the economy, I'm afraid there's not going to be any rational thinking,” Schlegel said. “Parents of children in this district will be in favor of this.”

The board is also worried any request would be denied by voters if it's too high since there's no chance for negotiation.

“I'm worried about if we go the full amount how mad out tax payers will be, you can't go back and say 'well maybe would you go for this instead,'” district clerk Diane Fetterhoff said.

SMS Principal Lori Schieffer suggested that some would say yes to any increase without knowing the number while others would deny it even if it were “only ten cents.”

“Since I've been on this board for five and a half years, for the first time we are talking about finances in January and it's been awesome to have time to make decisions,” Schlegel said. “We have a lot of time for administration and staff to be talking instead of making a big decision in the 11th hour.”

In other district news, both principal evaluations have been completed, a summer reading program is in the works and changes are coming to the 8th grade graduation ceremony.

“We have two exceptional principals at the schools,” Love said.

SMS is making plans to change their 8th grade graduation this year to make it less stressful for the students and their families, and less like a high school graduation, but still recognize the students' accomplishment.

“We're coming up with a survey to see what the community members like and what's important to them,” Schieffer said. “It's not diplomas, we want to change the formalities.”

Thies filled the board in on Lakeside's efforts to form a summer reading program to make up for the loss of skills during the summer.

“Each year when we look at our scores they drop through the summer and it's a pattern of 80 percent of the students taking a decline,” Thies said. “They have to start back at about the middle of the previous year.”

The details of the summer reading program have not been ironed out yet, but possible incentives such as a free ice cream cones for reading are in the works.

“I'm excited about it because we see students who don't have anyone to read with in the summer,” Thies said.

Future board meetings have been moved to Tuesday nights at 6 p.m.