We are working with schools on planning next year's revenue and personnel budgets. We've been in touch with the SDE, and they've said they'll share an FAQ to help districts prepare for FY19 changes.
We are working with schools on planning next year's revenue and personnel budgets. We've been in touch with the SDE, and they've said they'll share an FAQ to help districts prepare for FY19 changes. The media has featured many stories about the possibility of a recall petition on HB 1010XX, which has caused quite a bit of concern. As with any new law, we see conflicting opinions about what various portions of the law actually mean and what the ramifications of different events are. We will share any information we receive as soon as we receive it.
The best advice we can give is patience. Until a determination is made on what district responsibilities are, it is difficult to predetermine a course for some
budgeting. The SDE's FAQ should help to alleviate this issue. The best course is to be very deliberate in any contracts that are made with new or continuing employees, maintain a level of caution in any salary negotiations with retired teachers and most of all protect the district from being in a
tenuous position.
We have worked through some projections on State Aid, and we do have a method for projecting out the salary increases, and we are happy to share those tools with you. If you need more help with the budget discussion, let us know. We can schedule a time to come to you. Further, we would like to hold a budget workshop after the FAQ is released. If you are interested please contact me.
End of Year Considerations
This is the time of year when retirements and job changes occur--it’s just a fact of life in the school business. One common issue when someone retires or changes jobs from an administrative or support position is that there isn't a knowledge transfer to the employee filling the position. This is something that can cause issues that are unforeseen, and we all have had the experience of trying to recover information that is necessary to efficient operations in the district.
As we move in to this time of year, we advise all district employees to make a list of their specialized knowledge. For example, if you have a safe, who has the combination? What kind of financial information is in safety deposit boxes, and who can get into it? What kind of investments does the district have, and where are the investments? Is there a list of
investments that details what the investments are designed to do? I've heard more than one story of a district discovering by accident that there is some kind of information of which current staff isn't even aware.
The greatest concern for most people is keeping this kind of information secure. Today’s technology provides many options to store these kinds of records in one place and that protects the information's security. There are several different methods to collect information, including placing the information on a secured thumb drive that can be placed in the safety deposit box. The thumb drive would require a specific code to allow it to be opened. We would be happy to help you set up this system if this is a need.
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