R-9 Board Approves Budget, Hires Elementary Principal

It’s not a bad time to be a public school district as an influx of funds coming from COVID-19 money is helping districts pay for items that might have been out of reach otherwise.
For the Trenton R-9 School District, the funds have helped make the 2021-22 budget look pretty good after a 2020-21 year that didn’t end too bad either. The 2020-21 budget began the year with a 30.73 percent fund balance and was built on a deficit of $150,000. R-9 Superintendent Mike Stegman pointed to the closing of school for the last three months of the 2019-2020 school year, which led to savings, and ESSER I and II funding coming into the district coffers this year as helping the district end the budget year on June 30 with an approximate 37 percent fund balance.
This year’s budget is also intentionally built as a deficit with the addition of academic programming and supply budget lines. Even with a nearly $1,000,000 deficit, the district’s unrestricted cash should stay at the 30 percent mark. That does not take into account that the district is qualified for ESSER III funds in the amount of $2,638,446.
The budget shows total anticipated revenues of $12,301,838.46 and expenditures of $13,793,857.36. Added to an ending 2021 balance of $5,913,785.52, the district will be starting the year with a total balance of $18,215,623.98. The anticipated balance on June 30, 2022 is $4,421,766.62, but that does not include the earlier-mentioned $2.6 million that is anticipated to be received this year.
Fund 1 (the Incidental Fund, which is unrestricted), shows total anticipated revenues of $5,100,188.32 and expected expenditures are listed at $5,118,949.94. After transfers and Title money are taken into the equation, the balance is scheduled to be $3,354,711.09.
Fund 2 (the Teacher’s Fund) shows total receipts of $6,331,258.40 and expenditures of $7,271,994.67. That fund is always zeroed out at the end of the year and the money expected to be transfered is around $940,736.27. Fund 3 (Debt Service, used to pay bonds) shows an estimate of $857,891.74 in total revenue (coming from the 90-cent levy for bond payments), added to a July 1 balance of $1,291.798.05 for a total balance to begin the year of $2,149,689.79. Expenditures are $616,390 for an anticipated June 30, 2022 balance of $1,533,299.79.
Fund 4 is capital projects and with the approved transfer, those funds will be used toward building enhancements such as the camera system, the personal protection system (see below), iReady math and reading, etc.
In his budget message, Stegman said the figures are very conservative in considering revenue but t could change if state revenues change. He said he is very pleased with the financial outlook for the current year but is wary of how the current influx of pandemic funding could have a negative effect on the next few years.
“My greatest fear is how the pandemic influx of funding could eventually turn into a funding shortfall in a couple of years,” he wrote. “Continued diligence in spending will be very important as we watch how the future develops for educational funding. We will have to be very prudent and conservative with our spending throughout this period and work very hard to maintain our public school structure in a way that best supports our mission to provide for students.”
In other business, the board approved a proposal from SafeDefend for a personal protection system as had been demonstrated at the June regular meeting. The proposal was for $183,780 plus an additional $48,135.42 from Quality Network Solutions for wiring. Stegman told trustees that there will be an annual fee that will decrease after the first five years. There was discussion on how substitute teachers will be trained to use the system.
Following a closed session, the board hired Susan Gott to serve as the principal of Rissler Elementary School. Mrs. Gott has been a first grade teacher at the school and will replace Tiffany Otto, who resigned earlier this month.
Other personnel decisions made Monday morning included accepting the resignation of Marissa Cowan, a sixth grade math teacher, and hiring several coaches and paraprofessionals. David Shockley will be the new head high school baseball coach, with Jon Guthrie hired as the assistant baseball coach as well as the head middle school football coach. David Sager will be the assistant middle school football coach. Emily Reardon will be the head middle school softball coach and McKinley Hurley was hired as assistant middle school softball and assistant middle school basketball coach.
Hired as paraprofessionals were Mercedes West, Rissler Elementary; Laura Black and Emily Lasley, Trenton Middle School; and Laura Callihan, who will be a para at the Success Center.
The board also set the tax levy hearing for 5:25 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 10, which is the next regular meeting, although it was announced that there may be special meetings needed in July to handle personnel matters.