Finance and Operations - September 25, 2006

Madison Metropolitan School District Madison, Wisconsin Art Rainwater, Superintendent
BOARD OF EDUCATION Minutes for Finance and Operations September 25, 2006		Doyle Administration Building 545 West Dayton Street, Auditorium Madison, Wisconsin

Finance and Operations Committee meeting was called to order by Chair Lawrie Kobza at 7:33 p.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Carol Carstensen, Lawrie Kobza, Lucy Mathiak

MEMBERS ABSENT: None

OTHER BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Ruth Robarts, Arlene Silveira, Shwaw Vang

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE PRESENT: Joe Carlsmith (arrived 8:16 p.m.)

STAFF PRESENT: Sue Abplanalp, Mary Gulbrandsen, Pam Nash, Roger Price, Art Rainwater, Ken Syke, Barbara Lehman-Recording Secretary

1. Approval of Minutes

It was moved by Carol Carstensen and seconded by Lucy Mathiak to approve the Finance and Operations Committee minutes dated August 14, 2006as distributed. Motion unanimously carried.

2. Public Appearances

There were no public appearances.

3. Announcements

There were no announcements.

4. Citizen's Budget Summary

(Packets included an outline of the Peoples' Budget, including 2006-07 Full-Time Equivalent, Expenditures, and Revenues. A copy is attached to the original of these minutes.)

Mr. Price indicated that they were struggling to get all 39,000 counts into one of the categories on the outline and that they have been working on it since the last committee meeting. They will continue to work at it. It is a challenge because of the complexity involved in breaking up the accounts into different sections and requires writing a program. They will try to get a closer draft out in the next few days. Ms. Kobza reminded people about the goal to have something in October to share with the public. Mr. Price agreed that early or mid-October was doable.

DISCUSSION:

· Diffult to break out benefits by employee groups.

· Items 11-15 are things that do not fit anywhere else.

· Current system geared toward expenditures; once they are broken out and coded, further break down will be by local, state and federal funding.

· Revenues would look very different. If only applied to revenues, could break out property taxes and fees.

· Can estimate but cannot draw on FTE numbers to support it. A spreadsheet can be built that will not be tied into anything.

· Can create a separate pie chart showing where revenues come from.

· There was a suggestion for a future meeting topic to look at the first chapter of the budget from the perspective of what information everyone needs and better define it.

5. Analysis of the MMSD Transportation Budget

(Packets included background/summary/conclusion/next steps memorandum (9/20/06); a breakdown of the 2006-07 pupil transportation budget; more budget detail and supplemental information regarding transportation to public and private schools, parent contracts; and MMSD policy 5111 - Transportation. Copies are attached to the original of these minutes.)

DISCUSSION:

· Payments to Madison Metro have increased substantially ($1.4 million) in the past year due to the gap between the subsidy and cost of bus passes for low-income students.

· Hazardous intersections determined in consultation with the Sheriff's Department but Board or designee makes final decision.

· District has elected not to provide transportation for middle and high school students because of the arrangement with Madison Metro.

· Madison Metro does not cover Fitchburg; district provides transportation from Fitchburg by law.

· Fees are charged for yellow bus service to Wright and Spring Harbor Middle Schools; transportation is not required but is current policy practice. Rationale - to insure economically integrated programming. Fees generate $150,000. Buses follow same procedures as other buses; do not go directly to the students' homes.

· Charter school transportation - Nuestro Mundo and Open Classroom - district does not provide transportation for those outside of the attendance area.

· Transportation for students with disabilities may be determined by their IEP (Individual Educational Program). Many reasons for small buses or individual transportation.

· Use of crossing guards are determined by the City of Madison.

Ms. Kobza directed the administration to come back to the committee with information regarding these questions so the committee can consider them and determine whether it is comfortable proceeding with the transportation policy the way it is or whether it wants to make recommendations for some changes to the full board.

FOLLOW UP: Cost savings to the district if Board policy were changed to provide transportation at the obligated 2 miles instead of 1.5 miles from the school and who that would impact. Provide criteria, definition, maps, and routes for hazardous intersections. Future meeting topic should include transportation from Fitchburg. Provide information on the transportation of student bodies for Wright and Spring Harbor Middle Schools (number of students and distance).

6. Procedures, Policies and Costs of Transporting MMSD Students/Athletes for Interscholastic Athletics

(Packets included Transportation 205 - policy with regard to athletics transportation found in the athletic policy handbook. A copy is attached to the original of these minutes.)

DISCUSSION:

· Not board policy but part of district operations and procedures.

· Statement relative to designated, bonded, chartered carrier goes back to when this was an affordable and desirable option.

· Statute does not obligate the district to provide transportation for extracurricular activities.

· Risk of liability when asking for signatures for proof of insurance and driver's license information.

· Practice goes back to when it was in the best interest of the district to provide transportation all the time; the exception was alternative transportation. District can no longer afford and is not providing that transportation.

· High schools do a variety of things to get students to practices and games by taking advantage of student and parent drivers and car pools, etc.

· All schools are dealing with athletic budget cuts.

· Transportation depends on being able to provide one's own vehicle and this limits who can get involved. High risk involved in depending on high school students to provide the transportation.

· Every athletic director has a budget and transportation comes out of that; it is a matter of trade-offs. Much of the help comes from the Booster Clubs.

· Guidelines for overnights are very clear.

· Committee does not want to prohibit schools from providing transportation.

FOLLOW UP: Update the transportation chart to include all seasons, not just the fall. Provide information not just on cost but the liability perspective. For the next meeting: information on what those costs were that were looked at before and suggestions on a more holistic way of looking at this issue.

7. 2007-08 MMSD Budget Calendar

(Packets included a draft of the 2007-08 Budget Timeline. A copy is attached to the original of these minutes.)

Mr. Price noted that the draft goes through the process. Key dates drive what needs to be done. The timeline was provided for information only. It is a "live" document that can be changed as things progress and will be posted on the web site.

Joe Carlsmith arrived at this time.

Some of the key dates were pointed out (layoffs, budget approval, allocations to the buildings, labor costs, administrative staffing). Starting point is enrollment projections (end of October 2006). Mr. Rainwater noted that one of the budget parameters will be different than in the past; what kinds of areas can and cannot be considered to go to for budget relief. Areas will be broad and conceptual. He added that this would be the most difficult budget the MMSD has ever done and that there will be some pretty big cuts.

DISCUSSION:

· Information for December critical issues will be brought forward in mid- to late November.

· Last year's process generated very good questions from the board and good analyses from the staff.

· Board members were encouraged to make information requests and updates from last year's requests as soon as they are known in order to spread them across the budget cycle.

· Conceptual ideas may also give rise to some of those questions.

· If there is an interest in changing administrative staffing, proposals need to be submitted early enough so that administration can come back with an explanation of how they will handle certain kinds of reductions.

· Human Resources Committee will be going ahead with the topics of administrative contract renewals and policies and procedures to be completed before the end of January.

8. Other Business

There was no other business.

9. Adjournment

It was moved by Lucy Mathiak and seconded by Carol Carstensen to adjourn the meeting at 8:26 p.m. Motion unanimously carried.

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