R-4 continues with state minimum tax levy

No members of the public were present to comment during the Willow Springs School District’s annual property-tax levy hearing. The board again approved the state minimum levy with little discussion. Superintendent Dr. Jon Johnson said the unchanged rate is projected to add $43,547 to this year’s budget if taxes are collected at 100 percent, as they have been in recent years. The increase comes from higher assessed valuations in the three counties that make up the district, not from action by the schools.

 

After the hearing, the board moved into its regular August meeting. For the first time, Monday’s meeting opened with a prayer from Scott Foster, who then led the pledge of allegiance.

 

In action items of note, the board, after extensive discussion, voted to retain the paid time off (PTO) payoff policy for employees leaving the district. The policy drew attention in February, when in anticipation of a record number of staff leaving or retiring due to budget cuts, the PTO payoff practice was discovered to be paying twice as much as the recorded district policy. There is no record that the board approved the higher amount, but many employees had made employment decisions expecting it. 

 

Last year, it was a large, unbudgeted expense. In February, the board voted to keep the higher payout level for certified staff but did not amend the policy for uncertified staff. 

 

The PTO payoff policy exists to encourage teachers to stay in their classrooms, not to use PTO, and then claim a monetary reward when they leave the district. It cuts the district’s cost of hiring substitute teachers. 

 

Dr. Johnson noted that $45,000 for this payout is built into this year’s budget. The superintendent’s recommendation was a middle-of-the-road compromise that split the difference in cost between the policy and the practice, but Mac Gum wondered if that would penalize the teachers who chose to stay in the district. Since the full cost of the new policy was budgeted, that is a determining factor in how to proceed, commented Foster. The board’s consensus was to keep the policy the same for certified staff, but to revisit it frequently. No action required

 

For noncertified staff, the board approved option 3, the middle of the line approach.

 

In other actions, the board approved the school year’s proposed transportation routes. Transportation Director Logan Schwalm gave a presentation detailing the considerations this year, concluding that the best decision is to dissolve one bus route this year. The district should be able to add the route back in, if needed, Johnson said. 

 

Schwalm pointed out driver shortages, declining ridership, and expenses as the factor behind the decision. Reducing one route will affect a busload of kids, approximately 35-40 students Schwalm said, and parents and guardians should have been contacted about the change by publication. 

 

Regardless, all 12 routes should remain a roughly one-hour ride, Schwalm said. Routes are subject to change throughout the year. 

 

In other action items, the board approved: the professional development plan, the district handbook, and extended contracts for staff. The only milk bid, breakfast and lunch fees, the surplus of two school busses, and a renewed contract for independent financial consultant Dr. Kelly Lowe were also unanimously approved. 

 

SRO Paden Turnbull and AD Robert James were named the district’s safety coordinators.