School district manages small budget decrease

Superintendent Doug White gave a quick overview of the Henniker School District budget proposal for the 2009/2010 school year at last Wednesday’s School Board meeting.
Despite an increase in students, the Henniker School Board was able to cut the budget by $21,436, for an overall decrease of .33 percent over last year’s budget. This will reflect in a one cent decrease for the Henniker tax rate.
Board member Jim McElroy pointed out to the public that at the beginning of the budget planning process there was a good chance the school board was going to have to cut $400,000 from the budget, as they expected to lose that much in state funding.
Although in the end the funding didn’t fall through, McElroy noted that the budget still includes a certain fraction of those cuts.
McElroy added that going into the budget process they wanted to ensure small classes, a unified intervention system and more time on task for students, all within a budget that couldn’t go up.
“The first flush has been exactly what we asked for,” McElroy stated. “I really like the idea of doing things better that cost less.”
One of the main budget drivers for the 2009-10 budget comes from $124,080 in additional salaries and benefits in all labor categories, which is part of the second year of the new teacher contract.
The budget also features increases in the Office of the Principals line item in the sum of $16,466, which is derived from shifts in administration and support staff.
Although there is an overall increase in the Transportation line item of $11,638, the board did work to cut costs there. White said he was confident they were going to be able to reduce the number of buses used by HCS from five to four, without cutting any of the services.
One line item driving the budget down is a decrease in Special Instruction costs, by $119,539. This reflects a $147,750 reduction in out-of-district tuition costs as students leave the district.
The budget also features cuts in the Support Services, Professional Development, Library, and Computers, and Debt Services line items.
This was White’s first budget as Superintendent, and he expressed they were able to cut the budget without negating the budget goals, which include a continued implementation of a school wide literacy plan, supporting the integration of technology in the classroom, and maintaining safe and well managed schools.
Board Chair Theresa Maier questioned whether any other schools were coming in under budget, both in SAU 24 and statewide.
White answered that there weren’t any in the SAU, and Business Administrator Jim Crane added that he has seen a lot of 2 percent and 3 percent increases floating around, but no other budget that has come in under.