UNAPPROVED
ERCSD Budget Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes
November 15, 2007 – 7:00 PM
SAU Office
MEMBERS PRESENT: Bobby Aldrich, Simon Heslop, Deborah Johnson, Patty Lovejoy,
Roy Morrisette, David Pendell, Elyse Seely
BOARD PRESENT: Kimberley Casey, Sally Oxnard
MEMBERS ABSENT: Melissa Brockelbank, Mark Poirier, Mark Portu
ADMINISTRATION PRESENT: Nathan Lunney
The chair called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM with six members and two additional school board members in attendance. One member arrived later.
1. Opening and Review: The chair welcomed the committee and board members.
a. Bobby talked about the process remaining and the meetings that the committee still has planned. He explained that the Consumer Price Index release on December 14th will postdate our December meeting which means that the committee will receive final figures for salaries and benefits impact after that meeting and before our January meeting. At the January meeting, the committee plans to review the final budget and address each section of the budget with motion and vote in order to advance a final recommended budget to the subsequent school board budget retreat.
b. Bobby also reminded the committee that this group was appointed in this first year but will be elected for next year and beyond. The candidate filing period will run from January 23rd through February 1st and interested committee members must file here at the Superintendent’s office in order to become a candidate on the ballot.
2. Approval of Minutes:
a. October 4, 2007 Meeting: The minutes will be available for the next meeting.
b. October 19, 2007 Meeting: These minutes were tabled to the next meeting when more of the members who attended that day can be present for approval.
3. Presentation by District Administrators:
a. Exeter High School – Victor Sokul, Principal: Victor handed out excerpts from his Fall Enrollment Report for 2007 and walked the committee through the document. He discussed the staffing and enrollment levels in the building, approximately 200 employees and 1650 students, and reviewed a particular page in his document that detailed the average class sizes and number of sections taught by faculty in the multiple disciplines taught within the school. In the course of conversation, the committee reviewed the new state compulsory attendance matter (moving from 16 to 18 years of age) and the alternatives to attendance at EHS that are available to students here in the ERCSD. The subject of special education staffing came up and Victor answered that there are approximately 270 identified students at EHS now.
4. Budget Development: In deference to his time, the chair asked Mr. Wendell to start the evening’s budget development discussion with his proposed budget.
a. Operations/Maintenance/Utilities: Mr. Wendell began his proposed budget presentation by describing his team of 31 housekeepers plus 12 tradespeople, clerical staff and supervisors for total of about 43 staff. He then walked the committee through the budget worksheet comparing recent years’ actuals and 08-09 proposals.
b. Enrollment Projections: Nathan distributed a worksheet of enrollment figures that compared Fall 2006 to the current Fall 2007 and offered Fall 2008 projections from NESDEC (New England School Development Council). He briefly reviewed the data and explained that this is one of the tools used to help the administration project the needs for staffing and consumables in each year’s budgeting process.
c. Consumer Price Index: Nathan also quickly handed out a document detailing recent history of the CPI releases. This index is used in the calculation of many of the contracted salaries within the district, and others in the SAU. The figure upon which our contracts are based is the November release which will be published on Dec. 14th.
5. Other Business: None.
6. Next Meeting Date: Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 7:00pm at the SAU office.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:40 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Nathan Lunney, CFO