Page 12
T h e IN D E P E N D E N T, Ju n e 5~ 2003
udget committee will try to establish priorities for next biennium
From page 1
biennium w ould probably not
be know n until m id-June.
T he budget adopted fo r the
curren t yea r (2002-2003) has
had to be reduced by a p p ro x i
m a te ly 2 0 p e rce n t o v e r the
c o u rs e of th e last s e v e ra l
m onths, to cre a te a balanced
budget fo r 20 03-2004. Funder-
burg said tha t recent action by
the legislature to increase the
percentage of tra nspo rta tion re
im b u rs e m e n t fo r sc h o o ls in
eastern O regon decrea sed the
am ount of m oney in the c o m
mon school fund and cost the
Vernonia district about $12 p e r
student.
At the tim e of the m eeting,
legislators w ere very unhappy
about school funding, Funder-
burg said, and the re w as an e f
fort to increase the state school
fund to $5.0 billion from the
$4.8 billion budgeted for the bi
ennium as of M ay 1. Recent
new s re p o rts in d ic a te tha t
som e efforts are being m ade to
raise the state school fund as
high as $5.3 billion. N everthe-
less, the district has to budget
w itho ut any firm num bers.
F u n d e rb u rg re c o m m e n d e d
th a t any re ve n u e s re s u ltin g
from a decrease in the cost of
PER S be placed in the c o n tin
gency fund because, in this d e
p re s s e d
eco n o m y,
in
six
m onths the district could be in
the sam e position as it w as last
D ecem ber w hen e xp ecte d rev-
enues did not m ateria lize . In-
creasing the co n tin g e n cy fund
could allow the d istrict to m ake
a d ju stm e n ts to the budget w ith-
out cu ttin g school days. Ac-
cording to Funderburg, m oney
should also be held in con tin-
gency until any future litigation
regarding P ER S is resolved.
Funderburg urged the com -
m ittee to adopt the budget as
presented, including all the re
ductions discussed at previous
m eetings, and then identify a r
eas of con cern about reduced
funding levels accom panied by
corresp ond ing areas that could
be used to provide funds to
sup port program s of concern.
D arrell H am b let, a school
board m em ber w ho has w orked
fo r m onths as a m e m b e r of the
Budget
A s s is ta n c e
Team
(BAT), said that the re w a s n ’t a
pe rson in the room w ho w ould
be unable to find som ething in
the budget that he o r she did
not like. Further, he said, if a
com m ittee m e m b e r ju s t could
not support a p a rticu la r cut, he
h o p e d th e y w o u ld s u g g e s t
w here to get the dolla rs to in-
cre ase support.
B oard m em ber Jim Krahn
im m ediately identified three ar
eas in the budget that greatly
c o n c e rn him. First, he said,
de e p re d u c tio n s in a th le tic
tra n s p o rta tio n ($ 1 7 ,7 0 0 0 re
m ains in the budget) made “un
re a lis tic [a s s u m p tio n s ] about
w hat can be expected of kids.
In addition, the elim ination of
ju n io r va rsity co a c h e s could
c re a te a “ga rba ge program ".
K rahn said that he w ould rather
see the district support few er
sports fully in order to have
g o o d te a m s. Further, K rah n
a g re e d th a t the co n tin g e n cy
fun d should be increased.
In addition to reducing or
elim in ating ju n io r high and high
school track and cross country,
O ’Leary agreed w ith Krahn that
gested that the board review
,if the district could not afford to
the “ P ay-to-P lay” po licy as a
transport students, the district
w ay of funding athletic trans-
should not sponsor a program ,
portation and a ssista nt coach-
To fully fund athletic transporta
es. W ard also said tha t she
tion, Funderburg told the c o m thought all kids should have to
mittee, $15,000 w ould have to
pay, including those eligib le for
be taken from som ew here in the federal lunch program , or
the budget.
w ork fo r the district in som e c a
B a ssett, w ho ch a irs the
pacity in order to participate in
budget com m ittee, encouraged
sports. A c c o rd in g to D e p u ty
m em bers to exam ine the budg
C lerk Dawn Plews, revenue re
et in detail in an effort to find
c e ive d fro m the P a y -to -P la y
m oney to support program s.
A ccording to Bassett, there is
“alw ays more room for vision”
T h e 27th A nnu al S p e llin g
and an opportunity to create a
C
ontest
fo r the S tate of O regon
balance so that everyone has a
piece of w hat is needed for w as held M ay 13 at the C lat
kids. B assett suggested sche d skanie S chool D istrict O ffice.
The follow ing first place w in
uling another m eeting to dis
ners w ill represent the county
cuss changes in the budget
docum ent and to establish pri at the O regon S tate C o m p e ti
tion on A ugust 30 at the O regon
orities for increased spending.
State Fair:
The com m ittee stum bled along
D iv is io n I (G ra d e s K -5):
discussing both topics for som e
tim e. Funderburg told the co m N icole Spencer, R ainier M iddle
School.
m ittee that the w ork of the BAT
w as reaching "a thousand corn-
D iv is io n II (G ra d e s 6 -8 ):
prom ises” and that the com m it-
C h e ls e a C lifto n , S c a p p o o s e
tee could not create a whole
M iddle School.
new docum ent at this point or a
D ivision III (G rades 9-12):
budget w ith “fictitious dollars,”
Kelli H ackett, St. H elens High
i.e. potential increases in state
School.
funding or local fund raising ef-
C ontestants from V ernonia
included G abriel Rule, T im othy
forts.
Brown,
B rittanie R oberts, w ho
Ham blet, after first m oving
King places third in Spelling Bee
Krahn said he w ould support
e lim in a tin g sho p (vo c a tio n a l
education) “as it is run today.”
He suggested that w ood shop
could be taught as w ork experi-
encé, though any concrete ex-
am ple of how all students could
be a c c o m m o d a te d w as not
fo rth c o m in g .
S ch o o l board
m e m be r C ari Le venseller point-
ed ou t that the high school is
low on electives, having al-
ready cut auto shop, interna-
tional foods and business e d u
cation. Krahn responded that
he d o e s n ’t see vocational e d u that the budget be adopted as
c a tio n as a co re a c a d e m ic
presented (which died for lack
class and that, in his opinion,
of a second) suggested that the
stud en ts participating in shop
BAT be disbanded. The commit
are p roba bly the sam e students
tee reached a consensus that all
kept in school w ith a good ath-
discussion must now be at the full
letic program .
committee level. O ’Leary said that
B udget com m ittee m em bers
one duty of the committee is to ac
V icky Rice and R obyn Bassett cept the document, review it and
b o th sp o ke v e ry p o s itiv e ly
allow the public an opportunity to
ab out the value of vocational
digest the proposal. Board mem-
educatio n and said they w ould
ber Randy Hansen added that es-
not sup port any additional cuts
tablishing a list of priorities is a
to elective program s in general
paramount duty of the committee.
o r vocational education in par-
C athy W ard, a W ashington
ticular. Board m em ber Leslie
G ra d e S ch o o l tea che r, sug-
FARMWOMAN’S NURSERY
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placed third in D ivision II, and
A lex Bittinger, all of W ashington
G rade S chool.
V ernonia High S chool s tu
de nt M arshall King placed third
place in D ivision III; S tephanie
Lane also participated.
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p ro g ra m
(a p p ro x im a te ly
$10,000) represents a m inor
p o rtio n of th e to ta l a th le tic
budget (o ve r $60,000 e xclu d
ing tra nspo rta tion) as currently
budgeted.
T h e c o m m itte e w ill m eet
again Jun e 9 to approve the
budget and develop priorities
fo r any potential increase in
revenue.
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