District Board to act on staffing proposals at April 27 meeting
By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
The Whitewater Unified School District Board met Monday and considered program and staffing proposals for its 2015-16 budget.
The board heard proposals related to each topic from District Administrator Eric Runez during a special meeting.
“(It) was really a study session,” Runez said of the meeting. “It was the first opportunity for the board to review the proposals created by the district leadership team, the administrative team, regarding staffing and programming as it relates to resources for the 2015-16 school year.”
Runez said no action was taken at the meeting.
“Part of the point of this meeting is it gives the board means to give the district leadership team feedback, and suggest tweaks to the proposal,” Runez said.
The board will act on the staffing proposals at its April 27 meeting. The meeting is at 7 p.m. in the Central Office Board Room, 419 South Elizabeth St.
The final 2015-16 budget will not be approved until the fall. The district considered staffing proposals due to state-mandated deadlines for non-renewal of personnel.
Runez said preliminary non-renewal notices must be delivered to affected personnel 15 days prior to May 15, which puts the deadline at the end of April. In total, the district is losing three positions.
“All of these are enrollment driven,” Runez said. “That’s the first factor we look at. What does our enrollment require for staffing?”
District-wide, a half-time science teacher, a half-time math teacher, one elementary school teacher and one middle school teacher will be lost. The district is offsetting the losses through attrition and reassigning some personnel.
“In the end, it is a reduction,” Runez said. “We’re just reassigning them to where we know we have vacancies.”
While positions are being eliminated, Runez said no one is receiving a layoff notice.
“The administration and the board believe it has a great staff, and we’re committed to them,” Runez said. “We want to continue to retain them. That’s a priority of our administration.”
Regarding program proposals, Runez said programs are not set to be cut in the 2015-16 budget. Runez said the district will realize some health care savings, and is making cuts in other areas.
The district also awaits word on whether the categorical aid cut will remain in Gov. Walker’s proposed two-year budget.
Gov. Walker unveiled his state budget on Feb. 3. The proposed budget of roughly $68 billion calls for a $150 per pupil reduction in categorical state aid.
According to information on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction web site, categorical aid is state or federal aid that is intended to finance or reimburse some specific category or instructional or supporting program, or to aid a particular target group of pupils.
Based on conversations with legislators, Runez said he is being led to believe the cuts will not be in the proposed budget.
If the proposed cuts are eliminated, Runez said funding will be restored within the district’s maintenance budget, among other places.
