Oswego Community Unit School District 308 Board of Education and a Public Forum met September 25.
Here is the minutes provided by the Board:
1. Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by President Brad Banks
1.1 Roll Call:
Upon Roll Call the following members answered present:
Brad Banks, Matt Bauman, Lauri Doyle, Brent Lightfoot, Toni Morgan, Heather Moyer, Jared Ploger
Members Absent (at roll call):
None
Administration Present:
Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Sparlin
Associate Superintendent for Educational Services Dr. Lisa Smith
Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations Mr. Asif Dada
Others Present:
Employees of the District and members of the community.
Recording Secretary:
Ursula Coan
1.2 Pledge of Allegiance
Pledge of Allegiance was led by Board President Brad Banks
2. Information
2.1 FY18 Budget Presentation
Mr. Dada presented the total SD308 Operating Funds as well as the Projection Summary for the next five years.
Mr. Ploger clarified that the $3.7 million difference between the tentative and the final budget is due to the State sending last year’s payment too late to be included in FY17.
Mr. Lightfoot pointed out that while the 5-year projections are not great, they assume that at the end of the current employee contracts, renewals will come with less than a 2% increase, which is not a given. Therefore the numbers could change substantially.
3. Public Hearing
3.1 Public Hearing on FY18 Budget
Board President Brad Banks explained the Guidelines for the Public Hearing portion. He asked that each member of the Board of Education and the District Administration identify themselves. The following members stated their name:
Brad Banks, Matt Bauman, Lauri Doyle, Brent Lightfoot, Toni Morgan, Heather Moyer, Jared Ploger
Dr. John Sparlin, Dr. Lisa Smith, Asif Dada
Community members that wished to comment on the FY18 budget were asked to make their statements:
Carol Scott stated that assessments keep going up and that it is difficult, especially for the retired community members on fixed incomes. She reminded the board that the main focus with our budget needs to be on educating our students, not paying administrators.
Lee Hoffer attended a recent Village Board meeting when they voted on reducing the impact fees. Mr. Hoffer also commented on the proposed budget and asked the board to reduce spending rather than go into a deficit.
Gary Eagleton shared the same sentiment, mainly expenditures needing to be balanced with income instead of just raising the taxes. The board needs to look at any and all possible reductions to achieve a balanced budget.
At this time, President Banks asked if the administration wished to share any additional information. There was none.
3.2 Close Public Hearing
President Brad Banks closed the Public Hearing
4. Public Comment
4.1 Each person will be provided fine (5) minutes to speak before the Board of Education
Kenneth Blue commented on the Impact Fees. Mr. Blue feels that the Village of Oswego is short changing the school district by lowering the impact fees. He voiced his disappointment that the two boards did not collaborate before the decision was made. Mr. Blue feels that the Impact fees should be the same for all municipalities around us.
5. Statement and Guidelines for Q&A Session
5.1 Procedures/Guidelines for the Public Forum
Board President Brad Banks stated the procedures and protocol for the Q&A session of the Public Forum. Questions can be on any topic, except for personnel, (i.e., no questions or comments can be made on or about any teacher, employee, administrator or by referencing the District Employee’s title). If members of the public have any of these types of questions, they should be directed to the building principal or district administration.
6. Public Q&A Session
6.1 Each person will be provided two (2) minutes to speak before the Board of Education
Questions/Comments will be limited to 2 minutes or less and may be directed at the board in general, or to a specific member of the board. If no Board Member is directly asked to address the question/comment from the audience, then any board member may answer/comment and additional board members who may wish to answer/comment can do so as well. Board Member answers will be limited to 2 minutes.
Lauri Phillips commented that even though our budget will soon go into a deficit, we still need to give our students the best education possible. Mrs. Phillips stated that last year the district had six individuals that were Wilson certified in the elementary schools. She was asking if that was expanded to Junior High School as well and if the district is doing any screening so the students that need help can be identified in elementary school.
Mrs. Volpe answered that our Special Education TOSA is working with Wilson Reading to develop a training plan this year for elementary and Jr. High teachers. The district plans to expand the use of Wilson Reading as an evidenced based Tier 3 intervention for students with and without disabilities.
Lee Hoffer commented on the district increasing the Levy. He stated that the district could have reduced expenses further in order to avoid another tax increase. Mr. Hoffer would like an explanation of how expenses can increase $ 4 million every year without our student population going up by much.
Mr. Dada explained that there are two portions to the levy, CPI of 2.1% which amounts to $2.5 million and the other portion of the levy is controlled by bond and interest rate. Due to restructuring our bonds, which is a long term savings to our tax payers, that levy is also increased by another $2.5 million. Mr. Dada explained that our costs increase every year, mostly due to salary and benefits.
Kenneth Blue Mr. Blue asked the board members if they were sufficiently notified regarding the Village lowering their impact fees. Mr. Ploger explained that while the board as a whole did not have discussions with the Village, he and some of the other board members had spoken to village officials at individual and unofficial gatherings. Mr. Ploger stated that he can understand both sides. Mr. Bauman called for increased communication between the different branches of the village government and the district. After all, we are all in it for the same thing. Mr. Blue stated that it’s not one Village that’s in this district, there are several and it should be uniform.
7. Final Comments from the Board
7.1 Final Comments from the Board
The board thanked the community members and the administrators for attending the forum and encouraged everyone to come out and participate again in the future. Mr. Lightfoot asked the board members to consider holding the forums in the community room in the future to reduce the set up time and potential issues with technology and sound system.
8. Action Items
8.1 Approval of the FY18 Budget for Community Unit School District 308
Mr. Lightfoot stated that he was not able to support this budget. The reason it shows as a balanced budget is because the 4th quarter payment from last year is counted in FY18. Without that, this would be the fourth year in a row that the district has had a negative budget. We have an obligation to educate the children to the best of our abilities, but we also have an obligation to do it in a responsible manner. Continuing to raise taxes is not the solution. Mr. Ploger asked Mr. Dada to explain the consequences of not adopting the budget this evening. Mr. Dada answered that we are legally obligated to adopt a budget by September 30 of this year and the district would not be able to spend any money after that date if there was no budget in place. Mr. Dada stated that the board could adopt the budget and then amend it at any point after that.
A motion was made by Mr. Jared Ploger, second by Ms. Toni Morgan, to adopt the FY18 Budget for Community Unit School District 308 as presented
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 6-1
Aye: Mr. Brad Banks, Mr. Matt Bauman, Mrs. Lauri Doyle, Ms. Toni Morgan, Mrs. Heather Moyer, Mr. Jared Ploger Nay: Mr. Brent Lightfoot
8.2 Adoption of 2017 Levy
A motion was made by Mr. Jared Ploger, second by Mr. Matt Bauman, to adopt the 2017 Tax Levy as presented
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 5-2
Aye: Mr. Brad Banks, Mr. Matt Bauman, Mrs. Lauri Doyle, Mrs. Heather Moyer, Mr. Jared Ploger Nay: Mr. Brent Lightfoot, Ms. Toni Morgan
8.3 Resolution directing Administration to engage the services of a licensed Real Estate Broker to sell 13 Brock Court.
A motion was made by Mr. Jared Ploger, second by Mrs. Heather Moyer, to approve the Resolution directing Administration to engage the services of a licensed Real Estate Broker to sell 13 Brock Court for a commission not to exceed 5%
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 7-0
Aye: Mr. Brad Banks, Mr. Matt Bauman, Mrs. Lauri Doyle, Mr. Brent Lightfoot, Ms. Toni Morgan, Mrs. Heather Moyer, Mr. Jared Ploger
9. Adjournment
9.1 Adjourn
A motion was made by Mr. Jared Ploger, second by Ms. Toni Morgan, to adjourn.
All were in favor unanimously to adjourn.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried 7-0
Aye: Mr. Brad Banks, Mr. Matt Bauman, Mrs. Lauri Doyle, Mr. Brent Lightfoot, Ms. Toni Morgan, Mrs. Heather Moyer, Mr. Jared Ploger
Meeting Adjourned at 7:59 p.m.
https://www.sd308.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=9932&dataid=42898&FileName=9.25.17%20Board%20Meeting%20Minutes.pdf
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