Budget gets board approval

A $36.7 million budget for Jay Schools was approved Monday for 2014, but school board members expressed concern about the school corporation’s year-end cash balance and hope changes in employee health insurance can provide some relief.
The 2014 budget, which was advertised in August and was the subject of a public hearing on Aug. 19, will now be presented to the Jay County Auditor and the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance for review.
It calls for a general fund of $25,873,000, with about 98 percent of that amount coming from state tax revenues. The budget also calls for a debt service fund of $3,906,090, a capital projects fund of $3,400,000, a pension debt service fund of $981,883, a transportation fund of $2,300,000 and a bus replacement fund of $282,000. Those portions of the budget other than the general fund are supported by local property taxes.
Business manager Brad DeRome said the two biggest variables facing the school corporation’s finances are student enrollment and medical insurance expenses.
Enrollment, which previously appeared to be down by as many as 40 students, now appears to be down by as few as four. Since state funding is directly tied to the number of students, enrollment figures are being monitored closely,  DeRome said.
Jay Schools adopted a change in health insurance plans, shifting more of the burden to employees and steering them to less expensive options. Those changes were required by state law and are expected to result in significant savings.
“We expect this shift in premiums to follow the state HEA 1260 guidelines to save us $700,000 in the 2014 calendar year over 12 months,” DeRome said.
Though the changes went into effect Sept. 1, it’s not clear how much savings will result between now and the end of calendar 2013, he said.
DeRome noted that the year-end cash balance is projected to be about $2.5 million, down from $2.8 million at the end of 2012 and below the $3 million the board has targeted in the past.
“Ideally, I’d like to see us get back to the $3.1 (million),” said board president Greg Wellman.
The board Monday took two other steps to trim insurance costs and indicated more moves are on the horizon. Effective today, all new hires for support staff positions will only be eligible for the Plan D insurance plan.
Also, effective today, all new hires for administrator positions will be offered medical insurance benefits that match those of teachers.
Currently, administrators enjoy a $1 annual medical insurance premium. But board members Ron Laux, Mike Masters and others indicated they’d like to see the $1 annual premium phased out.
Those changes would have to be made at the time of individual administrator contract renewals.
“This doesn’t prohibit further discussion,” said board attorney Phil Frantz.
Action on the budget and insurance changes came on 6-0 votes, with board member Mike Shannon absent.
In other business, the board:
•Approved a change in the school corporation’s weapons policy to bring it into compliance with changes in state law.
•Heard superintendent Tim Long describe a global education forum set for Oct. 14 through 18 that will bring together educators from China, Taiwan and the U.S. Jay Schools will be working with Ball State University and representatives from Taiwan and China to sponsor the event.
“It’s a non-political forum,” said Long. “There will be a lot of interaction.”
•Set an auction of surplus school property for 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11, at the old bus garage at East Jay Middle School. Pete and Zane Shawver will be the auctioneers.
•Heard Trent Paxson, director of testing and assessment, say 93.7 percent of Jay Schools passed the IREAD 3 test in the 2012-13 school year.
The state average was 91.4 percent. All Jay third graders advanced to the fourth grade by passing the test or by meeting the requirements set by the state’s “good cause exemptions.”
•Learned suicide prevention training is now required for teachers and is available free online.
•Approved curriculum materials provided by the Indiana Department of Education for prevention of bullying.
•Hired Andrea Garringer as a technology instructional assistant, Dennis Dwiggins as a driver’s education teacher, Kendra Bernard as an instructional assistant at Jay County High School and Joella Rinker as an instructional assistant at Westlawn Elementary School.
•Approved leaves of absence for physical education teacher Abby Champ, music teacher Rachel Arnold, custodian Jerry Davis, English teacher Renee Kleinhenz, kindergarten teacher Chelsee Brunswick and instructional assistant Susan Brown.
•Transferred third grade teacher/instructional assistant Kari Brotherton to Pennville Elementary School.
•Accepted the resignation of Judith Massie as a part-time bus aide.
•Approved extracurricular assignments for Nichole Myers as sophomore class sponsor at JCHS, Larry Wilson as boys and girls basketball coach at Pennville, Joseph Missicano as an assistant softball coach at JCHS, Bill Saxman as boys basketball coach at Judge Haynes Elementary School, Joe Coons as boys basketball coach at Westlawn, Mitch Corwin as boys basketball coach at General Shanks Elementary School, Kari Anderson as freshman class sponsor at JCHS and Liz Lawson as academic competition assistant at JCHS.
•Approved field trips by JCHS theater students to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, and JCHS German students to Chicago.
•Approved a bus request by the youth group from The Rock.[[In-content Ad]]