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PISD budget could include pay raises
By Bill Conrad, bconrad@starlocalnews.com
Plano ISD will receive about $10.6 million less in state funding for the 2012-2013 school year, considerably less than the $24 million reduction it dealt with prior to the current school year.
However, unlike last year when hundreds of employees were laid off, no layoffs are being considered this year due to the district's estimated $158 million fund balance. Another difference from last year is that pay raises may be built into the budget.
"The thing to be decided in May ... is what we want to do in the way of compensation," said Richard Matkin, the district's chief financial officer and lone finalist for the open superintendent position. "[We have] made a recommendation of 2.5 to 3 percent, but we will have a discussion on that."
"The plan was to save for a rainy day, and that is now," Stolle said. "That is why we have that additional money in there, to spend it now when we need it. We have a two-year window and we have those funds available, but we also need to be cognizant that after two years we don't know what is going to happen. We could be better or we could be worse, so we need to be prepared for that as well."
At Tuesday night's board of trustees work session, Matkin and the rest of the superintendent's cabinet presented their proposed department budgets for the upcoming school year. The department budgets total $69.5 million, a $900,000 increase from the current year budget. However, the total is still more than $4 million less than what the district spent in 2010-2011.
"Last year I believe all budgets except for transportation [were decreased]," Matkin said. "That is not the case this year."
One of the larger proposed increases for the upcoming school year comes in transportation spending, which increases from $2.76 million to $3.1 million. Matkin said most of the increase is due to fuel costs, which remain at near record highs. He said it takes a lot of school buses to move students in a district the size of Plano, and without any idea of what costs are going to be, there is little certainty in how much money should be budgeted for transportation.
Other increases include adding $68,000 to the superintendent's budget, and $15,000 for employee child care. The increase in the superintendent's budget is largely due to $61,000 in legal bills the district owes due to its participation in a school finance lawsuit, which Matkin said will need to be paid early next year. The child care increase is due to the opening of an additional district child care center.
"We have converted the kindergarten at Mendenhall [Elementary] into our second child care center," said Dr. Cathy Galloway, associate superintendent for district services. "If you haven't been by there, it is the most gorgeous thing you have ever seen. We do know we will have some efficiencies with having the two buildings. We raised our tuition 4.5 percent last year another 2 percent for 2012-2013, but it is still below market rate. We are projecting that our budget will be in the black this year and in 2012-2013, but as you know when you open a new facility, you need to have a few funds there [just in case]."
Matkin said that when looking at the big picture, a $900,000 net increase is not a lot of money considering the district has a $450,000 million budget. Further discussion will occur at the May 1 board meeting, with a final decision set to be made on the budget on June 5.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Jack wrote on Apr 20, 2012 3:03 AM:
" How about lump sum bonus instead of pay raises. "
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