Dayton Schools: No Staff Cuts

DAYTON - The Dayton School District budget for 2012-13 does not include any staff cuts and maintains the sta- tus quo amid a down economy, district officials say.

The Dayton School District has managed to plan a scrupulous budget that, with the help of the community and the staff members, will be able to put more money away for a rainy day or in case of an emergency.

"Three years ago, we ended the year with about $10,000 in cash reserves," Superintendent Doug Johnson said. "Now we're back up. Our goal was $250,000. We reached it last year and it looks like we will reach it again."

The cash reserve is a fund set aside specifically as a means to help protect the district against emergencies or a sudden drop or lack of funding. Johnson said most businesses try to have 3 to 7 percent of their annual operating budget on hand. Like a business, the district tries to maintain that same level of re- serves, Johnson said.

"A bigger district can prob- ably get away with more like 3 percent," Johnson said. "Right now we expect to have about 5 percent."

District staff members es- timate about $280,000 will be left in the cash reserve fund for the start of the next school year, but Johnson pointed out this isn't even enough to cover wages for one month if for some reason the district's state- supplied income was absent. While the district is considering raising the annual reserve-fund goal, he said they don't want to save at the expense of the cur- rent students' curriculum.

"It's all a matter of what you think you need," Johnson said.

A lot of the employees are to thank for the funding cushion, Johnson added. Many of the staff members have not received raises in four years. He added that everyone pitches in, sometimes out of pocket, to make sure the students have the supplies and the support that they need.

While recent drops in stu- dent enrollment have caused financial strain on the district's budget, the district's Business Manager Paula Moiso said the district has been able to tighten the budget to keep all of its staff members on the payroll.

There isn't much change in the revenues and expenses from the last school year to the coming school year in the budget.

The district's budgeted rev- enue for the 2011-2012 school year was $5,529,770, while the budgeted expenditures were $5,420,113, Moiso said. The projected budgeted rev- enue for the 2012-2013 year is $5,611,755 and the budgeted expenditures is $5,611,755.

Moiso said there are a lot of factors that play into the budget and the district's ability to keep their spending within their means.

"We continually review our expenditures and try to reduce costs where appropriate," Moiso said. "And (we) try to eliminate expenditures that don't help to fulfill the educa- tional goals of the district."

Despite expecting less mon- ey from the state because of the reduction in enrollment, Moiso said the district has made other changes so it won't be quite as painful when the numbers came out.