Polson BOE axes FCS classes, looks at budget

POLSON — The Polson Board of Education voted to suspend Family/Consumer Science (FCS) classes indefinitely at its August meeting on Monday.

After posting the job opening twice and not receiving a complete application, the board decided to close the program. With 35 students enrolled in it for this upcoming school year, Superintendent David Whitesell said the cost per student was very high. A majority of those enrolled students are at freshman status.

“We will save about $50,000,” he said.

A retired FCS teacher is still in the area, but has turned down the idea of returning to teach the class.

“She was disappointed with the low number of students,” Whitesell said. “It’s not a healthy program.”

A few of the disciplines are picked up in other classes, but not all. The school counselors will rearrange schedules to fill holes left by the elimination of the classes.

Board member Mark Russell questioned what would happen to the students in the co-curricular group associated with the program. Jerry Wachal is a district officer for the state program.

“Maybe we could see if Mission will absorb Jerry,” Board member Theresa Taylor said.

The FCS co-curricular program also runs the concession stands for athletic games and with the elimination of the program, alternatives are going to have to be sought after.

“We don’t have a choice,” Whitesell said. “We can see if there is interest in it next year.”

After a closed litigation strategy session, the Polson Board of Education took a look at the 2010-2011 school year budget.

This year’s proposed budget will have 2.8 percent more than last year’s budget of $10,876,498. That percentage equals out to $304,799. About $200,000 will be from payroll and the rest will be from overhead.

“Utilities are increasing,” Taylor said.

The District has received more money from the state, based on formulas dependent on the number of students, which will offset the increased budget.

Within the budget, the transportation, bus depreciation and retirement portions faced decreases. A $30,348 decrease in the transportation area was due to the elimination of a driver and trimming routes.

“We had some routes that had an hour of idle time we were paying them for,” Whitesell said. “We’ve been cleaning that up.”

The $74,999 decrease in the retirement area was from over-budgeting, Whitesell said.

“So, that’s tax relief for the community,” Taylor said.

The District is close to paying off the Linderman remodel, so that will free up money.

“It’s about 15 mills after this year,” Whitesell said.

The adult education budget just about doubled to $133,000 for the upcoming school year. This fund is used for family nights at Linderman, the powwow, community/parent involvement sessions and outreach programs.

“It’s all about being a visible presence in the county,” Taylor said.

However, if the money doesn’t get spent, it rolls over into the next year. There was about $8,000 left from last year that will be a part of the upcoming year’s funds.

“It puts an investment into our adult [education] program,” Whitesell said.

Worries were voiced on how the district would deal if the state had to cut education money in order to balance its own budget.

“We’re the biggest kid on the block, we get the biggest slice of the pie,” Whitesell said. “We are leaner this year and I think we need to continue to do so, to keep tightening the belt as far away from the kids as possible.”