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Costs Upset Schools' Budgeting

Costs Upset Schools' Budgeting image
Parent Issue
Day
8
Month
January
Year
1969
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

A number of budget alterations were approved by the Ann Arbor Board of Education last night to restore to the 1968-69 budget a reserve of $215,000 earmarked for the opening of Hurón High School and King Elementary School. The $215,000 reserve fund had been used up on personnel salaries. The vote was 6-1. Trustee Hazen J. Schumacher Jr. voted against the adjustments. Two other trustees were absent. School Supt. W. Scott Westerman Jr. said he recommended the alterations "with regret" and "with great reservation." But he said such steps were "very necessary" because salary and fringe benefit commitments to school employés for 1968-69 have exceeded budget allocations by about $215,000. Westerman said he feit the reserve should be restored because of "the very strong commitment to the public and to ourselves to protect these funds." The school board decided last August, to conserve the $215,000 to open the schools, even if their openings were delayed until the fall of 1969. Since both schools have in fact been delayed, the reserve will be preserved for use in the next fiscal year. . The reserve includes $194,000 for Huron High and $22,000 for King. About 20 steps- including the curtailment of teacher and administrative in-service training and the canceling of an after-school p i 1 o t , recreation program for eight elementary schools- will be taken to cut budget expenditures. (The, second training day for teachers on race relations will not be cancelled.) Consideration will also be given to raising summer school fees and cafetería lunch prices. The board would have to specifically approve these two steps before they were implemented, however. Westerman said the overspending is the result of employing 16.47 more professional staff members than had been budgeted. He also blamed difficulties in predicting precisely the actual cost of the various negotiated agreements w i t h school personnel. The superintendent said the over-employment of 16.47 persons out of a total staff of 1,173.08 persons is an error of 1.4 per cent. But he said this discrepancy is "too large when operating within a restricted budget." Schumacher objected to the budget alterations, saying he didn't believe the reserve for opening Huron and King was "more sacred" than the budget items being cut or altered. Several trustees disagreed. Trustee Paul H. Johnson called Schumacher's approach "chicanery," which he said would result in "no" votes at the next bonding or millage election. Johnson said the bpard had promised the Ann Arbor voters to put this money aside to open the schools, and following Westerman's reeommendations would merely "keep inviolate those promises." Trustee William C. Godfrey and School Board President Joseph R. Julin agreed witb protecting the funds, with Julin