Good news headlined the Sedona-Oak Creek School District Governing Board meeting July 2. For the first time since members can remember, the SOCSD is entering the new fiscal year budget with a surplus or, in budgeting vernacular, a carryover.
The 2019-20 fiscal year started Monday, July 1. “That surplus is in capital. That’s where we buy major equipment, things that are going to last more than five years, textbooks, software, we pay a lot for software licensing out of that fund,” SOCSD Finance Director Heather Shaw- Burton said. “Our Maintenance and Operating fund — that was the one we had a deficit in last year — we had to do a lot of budget cutting to the prior year to trim that budget down so we’re super excited to have that $20,000 carry over.”
“I’ve been here seven years, I don’t ever remember that we have had any kind of surplus … so that’s good news,” board President Randy Hawley said.
Spending will increase from just over $4,000 per student in 2019 to $4,202 per student in 2020.
None of this was possible until the district put in place a new strategic development and planning framework in July 2018. Staffing changes and consolidation built in solid savings that have now seen a return on investment. Superintendent Dennis Dearden is also taking on the role of Sedona Red Rock High School principal without any additional pay.
Shaw-Burton added human resources to her role as finance director. Her husband, Don Burton, is assistant principal and athletic director at SRRHS.
These austerity moves have put the school district in the black, with hopes of a 3% buffer against future unanticipated expenditures.
“It’s really about becoming more efficient, like things we’ve done, closing the district office this year, consolidating our administrative roles. Jennifer [Chilton, director of Operational Service and Facilites] and Dennis taking on more roles … everybody has taken on wearing additional hats,” Shaw-Burton said.
With an enrollment loss of 30 students from the district, the budget remains tight.
“We have to react to enrollment changes … we have to react midyear too, so as the year goes on your enrollment changes, your budget changes. That was put into effect a couple of years ago in the state,” Shaw-Burton said. “Before that our budgets had just been based on the prior fiscal year.”
“The changes we’ve seen just since Dennis has been here are amazing,” Hawley said. “He’s done a lot to look at things we can cut. Just consolidating the elementary school into one has made a huge difference in our costs. “When you can concentrate on the operation of one school and then consolidate staffing like we have, it makes all the difference.”
The latest SOCSD meeting took place at a new location July 2. For the first time, the Governing Board meeting did not take place at the Nancy J. Alexander Administration Building, with a boardroom specifically built for this purpose. Instead, due to austerity measures by SOCSD, it moved the meeting to the campus of SRRHS, in the lobby of the Sedona Performing Arts Center.
“This was spectacular,” Hawley said. “All my years in education and as a board member here, I never had a view like this.”
Staff that worked in the Alexander administration building on Brewer road moved into smaller confines at Sedona Red Rock High School on June 14.
The district also renewed its contract with the Valley Academy for Career Technical Education, which is a boost to high school students looking for a career direction.
VACTE partners with all the high school districts in the Verde Valley with satellite programs on high school campuses, classes offered by Yavapai College’s culinary school at the Sedona Center and certified nursing assistant classes at Verde Valley Medical Center in Cottonwood.
“It prepares them for the testing they need to even get a job right out of high school,” Chilton said.
Costs of this program are shared by the state and participating community colleges and participating businesses.
The votes at the meeting almost did not take place. A quorum requires at least three board members but only Hawley and one other board member attended for the meeting in person.
Vice President Heather Hermen voted by phone from vacation on the East Coast. All measures including approval of the 2020 budget were unanimously passed 3-0. Now, another possible boost of revenue could come from rental of the Alexander Administration Building. “We have some parties that have a definite serious interest,” Hawley said. “We’re just hoping they come through, possibly by the end of the month.” “That would go into our M&O budget where we pay our lease monies … so that would help our M&O budget tremendously,” Shaw-Burton said.
The next board meeting will move again, to West Sedona School.
“I’ve worked in other school districts where we moved our meetings,” Hawley said. “I think its a good idea.”
Don Eicher can be reached at 282-7795 ext 126 or email to deicher@larsonnewspapers.com
