School faces cuts without levy approval

The Somers/Lakeside School District made a general-fund levy request of $405,000 to fund repairs that have been put off in the past due to budget constraints, maintain extra curricular activities, and keep their current staff numbers that allow the school to meet state standards.

The district’s budgetary concerns are the result of various factors that have built up over the years combined with decreased state funding due to drops in enrollment.

According to board trustee Tim Rogge, the levy request is a projection for what will be needed in the next three to five years.

“If we had an influx of 200 kids show up, we wouldn’t even be talking about this,” school board chairman Dave Alexander said. “Our enrollment has gone down and our fixed costs have gone up, but we did good on keeping up on it for a long time.”

Last year’s budget cuts included Somers Middle School principle, Lori Schieffer, stepping down to three-quarters time employment, staff cuts, and postponing repairs to Lakeside Elementary’s roof and plumping repairs to both schools.

However, the district’s insurance costs increased by over 30 percent a few years ago through MUST, Montana Unified School Trust. This system works by pooling funds for claims, and the premium increases as the claims increase.

“I went to MUST and met with the president at the time and had that reduced and spread out over the years, but then they hit us again this year with a pretty hefty increase,” Alexander said.

Another reason costs have increased for the district is from the Steps and Lanes program. This program is part of each teacher’s contract and guarantees increases in pay as the teacher increases his or her qualifications by taking additional classes.

The Steps and Lanes program functions as a way to compensate teachers who further their training in new instructional methods. For instance, a teacher who earns a Masters degree and keeps up to date on the latest methods of instruction will be able to provide a higher quality of education than a teacher who sticks to the same curriculum with the same approach every year and doesn’t take additional classes to increase their qualifications.

Board trustee Courtney Shaeffer said the district already has staff split between both schools working with title reading and math programs where there used to be enough staff for each school to have their own.

The district staff has not negotiated their contracts or taken raises in recent years.

“We’re at the point now where things would have to be eliminated to balance the budget,” Rogge said.

The district did not renew all 11 of their non-tenured staff’s contracts for next year, because if the levy doesn’t pass the district won’t be able to afford them. A non-tenured teacher is one that has worked for the district for less than three years.

This does not mean the staff was fired, it simply means their contract wasn’t renewed. Each was encouraged to re-apply if the levy passes and the school advertises the job opening.

According to Superintendent Casey Love, cutting the faculty of 70 down to 59 means the district will lose accreditation. This means the school will no longer meet the state’s requirements for class sizes and services available to the students.

“The big one is staying accredited, some people stepped up and took extra duties to make the accreditation work,” Love said. “It’s a big deal, and a lot of schools are having problems with class sizes.”

If the levy doesn’t pass the district will have to cut extra-curricular programs such as sports and tutoring programs. According to board trustee Mike Schlegel, 53 percent of the district’s students are on free or reduced lunch programs.

“That tells me we have some families that are needing help,” Schlegel said. “The system was so convoluted, our hands were almost tied and the kids were going to be paying the price for a broken system.”

The district’s levy request of $405,000 breaks down to one one-thousandth of a penny for per dollar for taxable assessed property values within the district, according to Shaeffer.

“The levy we’re running is 18.7 mills, but the building bond for the elementary school was 11 mills and it’s paid off as of May, so it’s really only an increase of seven mills,” Shaeffer said.

This cost equates to $26.61 a year for a home with an assessed value of $100,000 or $53.23 for a $200,000 home. A levy calculator is available at the district’s website, www.somersdist29.org.

Voting on the levy request as well as the two vacant trustee positions will be held on May 8.