SA school budget for 2019 $16.5 million

BERNE — South Adams plans to advertise a 2019 budget slightly lower than it did for the current year.

The school board got its first look at the budget, which comes in at $16.5 million, during a work session Tuesday.

It also looked at proposed plans for capital projects and reviewed a suggested policy for the use of metal detectors on school grounds.

South Adams’ $16,477,467 budget proposal for 2019 is about $52,000 less than it advertised in 2018. The 2018 budget was certified at $16.33 million after review by Indiana Department of Local Government Finance.

The budget breakdown is different this year as the state has eliminated the general, capital projects, transportation and bus replacement funds.

Instead, those have been combined into just two funds — education and operations.

South Adams’ education fund for 2019 comes in at $8.91 million. Other fund totals are $5.02 million in operations, $1.97 million in debt service and $590,000 in the rainy day fund.

Superintendent Scott Litwiller explained that he does not expect significant spending from the rainy day fund in 2019, but that the money was allocated to allow flexibility.

The board plans to vote to advertise the budget at its regular meeting Tuesday. There will be a public hearing on the budget Sept. 11, and adoption of the budget is planned for Oct. 9.

As part of the work session, the board was also presented with a plan for capital projects, the funding for which is now in the operations fund.

The largest expenditures for 2019 are $175,000 for the replacement of the remaining old high school lockers and $80,000 for a new roof on the auto shop. (New lockers were added in some sections of the building as part of a renovation project this summer.)

There are also plans to set aside $250,000 in 2019 and 2020 for replacement of bleachers on the home side of the football field.

Litwiller also reported to the board that about $70,000 in pledges have been committed for a new restroom, concession and press box building at the baseball field. He said the goal is $100,000, with fundraisers hoping the school corporation will pick up the remainder of the project that is estimated at a minimum of $158,000. He asked the board to consider the project for approval at its next meeting.

South Adams also plans to purchase three new buses in 2019 at a total cost of $340,000.

Technology purchases planned for next year include keyboards for elementary school iPads and new computers in one of the school’s three labs.

Litwiller presented board members Arlene Amstutz, John Mann, Landon Patterson, Julie Mansfield, Amy Orr and Mitch Sprunger, absent John Buckingham, with Indiana School Board Association’s suggested policy for the use of metal detectors. The policy would allow for the detectors to be used when the school administration has a reasonable suspicion to believe that an identified student has a weapon or for random checks as long as they are minimally-intrusive and nondiscriminatory.

South Adams has ordered four metal detectors through a state program that is supplying the devices to schools free of charge. Litwiller asked the board to consider the policy, with a vote planned at an upcoming meeting.

In other business, the board:

•Accepted the resignations of migrant recruiter Sonia Avila and bus driver Nick Minnich.

•Hired Sabrina Newland and Skeeter Williams (bus drivers), Rhonda May (Cook), Jen Meyer and Dian Witte (preschool aides), Rachel Henry (one-to-one special education aide), Tandra Billington (part-time special education aide), Diane McClung (temporary one-year English teacher); Steve Tatman (one period, temprorary, one-year dual credit high school speech teacher), and Cam Cook and McCallister Clouser (middle school football coaches.)

•Was invited to the school’s staff breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Monday. The first day of classes for South Adams students is Tuesday.