SPS budget and finance Q and A

School finance can be a complicated subject, not often easy to squeeze into a sound bite or a 500-word news article. Yet, school finance, budget, revenues, etc. are going to be on the minds of many as we continue the process of developing the 2010-2011 budget over the coming weeks and months.

With that, I want to take this opportunity to invite you to use the comments section of this blog post to ask any question you may have around this topic. Just click on the comments link below to submit your question for us to answer.

I would also encourage you to check The Bottom Line for the latest news and information about district finances. Also, be sure to check out our FAQ page for some commonly asked questions about the district's revenue and the budget planning process for 2010-2011, and take a moment to view this video which provides an overview of the budget development process. You can also find a complete list of district financial reports on our website.

Springfield Public Schools strives for an efficient and effective use of community resources, and as part of that goal we want to promote an open dialogue around that subject.

A note about comments: Please keep them appropriate; foul language and personal attacks will not be tolerated. We do have to review comments because of inappropriate spam that can show up without using the moderation process, so please note that your comment will not appear immediately.

CHS student Nicole Andrews wins Poetry Out Loud competition

Congratulations to Nicole Andrews, a student at Central High School, for winning Missouri's 2010 Poetry Out Loud competition held last week in Jefferson City.

Nicole will go on to the national Poetry Out Loud competition in Washington DC on April 26 and 27. Students receive a $200 prize for winning at the state level and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington DC for the national competition. Central High School will receive a $500 stipend to purchase poetry books.

Please join me in wishing her luck next month.

Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation contest among high school students in all 50 states. The program is conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts, working with state arts agencies. It's a great offering for classrooms, providing the opportunity for students to interpret and evaluate poetry as literature while building public speaking skills and confidence.

Parents speak out about the need for involvement and dialogue

In recent weeks, the Springfield News-Leader has featured several editorial columns filled with inaccurate and misleading information about our Springfield Public Schools. Because that erroneous information is presented so prominently on the paper’s opinion page my staff and I have attempted to correct it, because I believe an informed conversation about our schools and the challenges we face has to start with facts rather than conjecture.

Thus, it was refreshing to see two parents and volunteers speak out on behalf of our schools today. Both authors shared a common theme in their contributions: the need for real community involvement to ensure the success of our children and schools.

Tim Burk discussed his experiences as a volunteer and president of his school’s PTA.

Gail Melgren urged readers to take a broader view of the achievement gap, rather than attempt to address the issue with vitriol.

Less than a month after the editor of the paper called for a more civil dialogue on the opinion pages, it’s good to see that several have heeded that call. If you have questions or concerns about your school or the district, don’t hesitate to reach out to our staff, myself included. We want you to be informed about the state of our schools. I encourage you to take the time to volunteer in our schools, donating a small portion of your time pays immense dividends in the lives of students.

Ten minutes can help your community and schools

This spring, the United States will once again conduct a national census. Going back to 1790—when George Washington was president—our country has taken an official count of the population every ten years according to instructions in the U.S. Constitution.

Please know how important your participation and a complete, accurate count is to our school district and community. In addition to establishing the number of U.S. Congressional seats for each state, census information is used to distribute more than $400 billion in federal funds to local, state, and tribal governments each year. Schools also receive funding based on data from the decennial census and the ongoing American Community Survey. In addition, census information is critical when determining locations for medical services, improving schools, building roads, expanding public transportation, and creating accurate maps for emergency responders. Even allocation of vital supplies, such as influenza vaccines, is provided to local communities based on census counts.

In March 2010, households will receive a mail-back form which should take no longer than10 minutes to complete. The 2010 Census questionnaire will be one of the shortest in history, asking only 10 questions. Strict laws protect the confidentiality of respondents and any information they provide.

To keep costs low and help the City of Springfield achieve a high mail-back response rate, everyone is encouraged to mail back the form (postage-free) as soon as possible after receiving the form. Census Bureau workers will not need to visit households to collect the information if the mail-back form is completed and returned by mail. People who live in group quarters (e.g., dormitories, nursing homes, etc.) will be counted through a group quarter count rather than receiving mail-back forms.

We join the Census Bureau in reminding everyone: “We can’t move forward until you mail it back.” Please mail your Census 2010 survey back as soon as possible!

Thank you for your continued support for our school district and community.

Meet Hillcrest's Pro Start culinary team

Yesterday, I told you a little bit about the Pro Start Culinary career education program and the award-winning team at Glendale High School.

Today, I want to share this video with you featuring Hillcrest family and consumer sciences teacher Robin Jones and several of the Pro Start team members there, including one young lady who has had a great experience interning with the pastry chef at the Tower Club. I'll let them tell you all about it.



Here are links to today's story in the News-Leader and the report (with video) from KOLR 10 about the GHS Pro Start team.

This is just one of the innovative programs we're pleased to offer SPS students.

Pro Start career education program a recipe for success

The elaborate setups of the TV show “Iron Chef” usually come to mind when you mention cooking contests. However, one of the real challenges of being a professional chef is being able to adapt to the conditions around you, while still putting together a final product that meets a certain standard. Many television chefs may balk at having to prepare a meal on a two burner propane hot plate, but that’s exactly what the students on Glendale High School’s Pro Start Culinary Team had to do last month for the state Pro Start competition.

The GHS team competed against 28 other teams and won second place, which included a $500 prize and a renewable scholarship at East Central College for each team member. This is just the second year of the Pro Start program at GHS.

SPS’ Family and Consumer Sciences department implemented the Pro Start culinary arts curriculum in the fall of 2008. This is one of the district’s innovative career education programs that bring together what students learn in the classroom with the application of that knowledge in the workplace. The program offers students a sequence of courses that can lead to certification from the Missouri and National Restaurant Associations and a leg up on culinary school or other post-secondary training. Students get another opportunity to put themselves to the test through internships with local businesses.

The benefits of Pro Start are not limited to the culinary arts. The program fosters students’ problem solving skills and critical thinking ability as they react to various challenges and circumstances as individuals and members of a team. These are the skills that transfer across classrooms and throughout every facet of life, the most essential ingredient for success in anything students pursue.

Currently, SPS has Pro Start teams at Central, Glendale and Hillcrest.

Clarifying the facts

As we get under way with the budget development process in the face of difficult economic times, it is essential that we provide accurate and up-to-date information, especially with looming budget decisions that will impact people’s lives. Thus, I was very disappointed Thursday morning when I picked up the News-Leader and saw an individual spreading misinformation and manipulating numbers to create a false impression of our schools.

As you may have noticed the News-Leader’s opinion page requires frequent corrections from our staff and Board. Let me clear up the two misleading examples used yesterday to imply something nefarious about the district.

• Increases to SPS’ debt service levy must be approved by voters. The district’s debt service payment for 2009-2010 included $30 million from an escrow account that paid off the 2000 bond issue, which was refinanced in 2003 at a significantly lower interest rate, resulting in a significant savings of taxpayer money. That bond debt was retired during the 2009-2010 budget year because that was the earliest date we were legally allowed to pay off the 2000 bond. As you know, those bonds were approved by voters who have made upgrading the physical condition of our schools a top priority.

• It’s simply not true that the district’s administrative expenses have increased from $425,000 in 2005 to $2.5 million in 2009-2010. When the district upgraded its accounting software in 2006, the finance department reviewed all general ledger accounts to ensure they were classified as recommended by the Missouri State Accounting Manual. A number of accounts were reclassified under "Executive Administration,” including administrative services DESE requires districts to have. Our district strives for an effective and efficient use of resources. As a result SPS’ ratio of 279 students per administrator is far below the state average of 187 students per administrator.

It’s unfortunate that Mr. Gargus declined my invitation last September to sit down and discuss his concerns. That might have cleared up some of the misunderstandings he has about our district’s finances.

Developing a budget and responding to difficult economic times is not as simple as laying off more than 150 district employees (representing $8 million), as Mr. Gargus suggests. We cut more than $6 million from the current year’s budget, which included personnel reductions, facility maintenance and improvements, professional development and curriculum.

As we consider the various scenarios for the 2010-2011 budget, let me make it clear that we will seek options that have as little impact as possible on the quality of education that we provide. This will certainly mean some tough decisions, and we very well may have to have a conversation about the operating levy in future years if state cuts impact the core quality of our teachers and schools.

I strongly support the right for community stakeholders to express their opinion. I also know that not everyone has a favorable view of what we do, especially when it comes to talking about taxes in the midst of this economic climate. However, when the News-Leader continues to print inaccurate information we will come directly to the community with the facts, allowing them to draw their own conclusions.

I encourage you to stay informed about the budget process with our financial blog, The Bottom Line, and don’t hesitate to provide your feedback or ask questions you may have regarding this issue.