Ronan trustees discuss budget cuts
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RONAN – An overwhelming outpouring of the community was evident at a special meeting after an announcement on a local radio station stated the Ronan School District would possibly be cutting Future Farmers of America (FFA), a program that prepares students for career success through agricultural education.
Extra chairs were hauled into the library to compensate for the crowd; yet, many still had to stand when the room reached maximum capacity.
In addition to those in support of FFA, other audience members attended to support three non-tenured teachers who faced non-renewal of their contracts for the coming school year.
Superintendent Andy Holmlund addressed the audience before opening the floor up to public comment to explain where the district sits regarding funding for the upcoming year. HB 316, which was vetoed by the governor, cut a large amount of funding for schools. Montana schools will be primarily funded through the Legislature’s general fund.
“What the Legislature came up with is very disappointing,” Holmlund said. “It’s very sad for our employees.”
Following the May 9 board meeting, Holmlund asked administrative personnel to look at where the district could cut costs to address both the funding deficit, while improving the functionality of the schools.
The main items he asked personnel to consider were: class size, students per teacher ratio and to look at how money is being spent for every department and activity. Some of the personnel who helped out were school principals.
“First off, they did an outstanding job,” Holmlund said. “I’ve got a lot of future superintendents here.”
According to Holmlund, the district has approximately $3.1 million in their general reserve fund, and that the district is in much better shape than many schools across the state.
“We’re on solid ground,” he said. “But we’ve got to be careful to not burn through our reserves.”
The board’s job was to agree on what pace the reserve money should be consumed, along with the right balance in spending so the district doesn’t drain their general fund too quickly.
“We need to support growth and learning for future students,” Holmlund said. “We need to figure out how to continue that without causing disruption to learning.”
Holmlund added that cutting FFA would be a huge mistake.
“FFA is too critical for us,” he said. “I don’t foresee it going away.”
After a lengthy discussion on the issue, the board approved budget recommendations for their general fund brought by Holmlund and administrative personnel.
In other business, the board also approved to hire a list of non-tenured teachers for the 2011-12 school year.
Before the meeting got underway, the Ronan robotics team gave a brief presentation and showed a video for the audience on their recent trip to St. Louis, where they competed and were awarded world champions at the FIRST Robotics Competition.
Following the video presentation and huge applause, robotics coach Jesse Gray thanked the community for their support.
Trustees will continue the ongoing budget debate for specific departments during their next meeting June 3 at the Ronan High School library.
