When Jamesville-DeWitt School District residents vote on the 2020-21 budget early in June via mail and absentee ballots, they’ll consider a spending plan that could find itself subject to further changes.
The budget approved by J-D’s Board of Education in a meeting held May 11 totals $58,640,975, a 1.61-percent increase over the 2019-2020 school year. This includes a proposed increase of 3.33 percent in the district’s tax levy to $42,226,394, though the actual tax increase in the budget will be closer to the 1.42 percent approved one year ago.
But it was far from unanimous approval. Of the eight board members, only five voted yes, with three opposing the plan because of their stated objections to cuts made in some academic programs.
Everyone involved in the budget process was aware of the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic brought, from altered expenditures to altered dates that included a truncated timetable to approve the spending plan before it went to voters nearly a month later than usual.
“This has been an exceptionally difficult budget to plan,” said superintendent Dr. Peter Smith.
A large part of that difficulty stems from the uncertainty about the amount of state aid that the district will receive.
As of now, J-D is expecting $14,054,592 in state aid, a fractional decrease from 2019-20 when it was $14,060,239, but board vice president Wendy Rhodes said that she expects further contraction in that aid, depending on what decisions are made at the state level in the coming months.
By far, the biggest objections to the budget sprang from a decision to discontinue the Chinese language program in the middle school and high school, with several comments from parents of students currently in the program opposing its removal and board members citing it in their no votes.
To defend the decision, Smith said that enrollment in Chinese over the last four years had steadily decreased, from a high of 64 to just 36 students in grades six through 12. He added that those returning high school juniors and seniors would be allowed to finish their curriculum.
Also, said Smith, he would make every effort in the future to bring back the Chinese program if the budget allowed for it. For now, the district would save $75,000.
The program budget of $29,357,377 is still a 2 percent increase from 2019-20, despite a slight decrease in overall staffing. Two sections at the elementary school were eliminated due to declining enrollment.
J-D has also proposed to spend $3.386 million paying off debts and interest from previous capital projects. Meanwhile, the district’s athletic budget of $979,967 is up 3.33 percent, largely due to fees for various governing bodies, the addition of modified boys volleyball and Unified sports.
Eight candidates are up for election to three seats on the school board, whose results will be tallied and announced on June 9. Of the slate, only Christine Woodcock Dettor is an incumbent, joined on the ballot by Diane Bates, Kerri Coleman-Herrick, Michael Gilbert, George Gross, Michelle Kielbasinski, David Leach and Stephen Theobald.
Also, district residents will vote on two bond issues. One allocates $490,480 for the purchase of five buses. The other seeks approval of $244,000 for purchase of a hybrid dump truck/snowplow.
District business manager Timothy Decker said that the district did realize $350,000 in savings due to the closing of school since mid-March between the cancellation of spring sports, not using fuel on school buses and cleaning costs.
A hearing on the 2020-21 budget will take place June 1 at the board’s next meeting, via Zoom.
