South Eugene High School
Parent Council
Budget Presentation Minutes
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Thanks to Budget Committee
Cindy Wright, Treasurer of Parent Council and Chair of the Budget Committee, thanked the members of the Budget Committee - Randy Bernstein, Helen Garrett, Michelle Pellitier, Lucy Vinis , and Carol Yarbrough - for their time and efforts on the Budget Committee. Their participation and input was invaluable in compiling a Proposed Budget for 2008-2009.
Purpose of Committee
The purpose of the Budget Committee was to review and discuss the Funding Appropriations Survey, review the requests for funding from the administration for the 2008-2009 school year, and to compile a Proposed Parent Council Budget for the 2008-2009 school year.
Funding Appropriations Survey Results
A sincere “Thank you” goes to Helen Garrett, Chair of Parent Council, for her leadership and initiative in performing and tabulating the Funding Appropriations Survey. The complete survey and results can be viewed on the Parent Council website at www.parentcouncil.blogspot.com.
The results of the Current Program Allocations section of the survey showed overwhelming support from parents to continue funding Library, Music, and Volunteer Coordinator time - the three programs that Parent Council has funded for the past three to five years. Parents voted 80% to 85% to continue funding these programs.
The Budget Committee used a point system to determine the final ranking of the items in the “Surplus” Funds section of the survey. A rank of #1 was assigned 10 points, #2 was assigned 9 points, #3 was assigned 8 points, etc. The final ranking was:
#1 380 Points Fund Grant Writer
#2 348 Points Wish List from SEHS Teachers
#3 268 Points Textbook Sets for Classrooms
#4 213 Points Smart Boards for Classrooms
#5 196 Points Driver’s Education Scholarships
#6 193 Points Projector Mounting in Classrooms
#7 156 Points Practice Field Improvements
#8 148 Points Cardio & Fitness Equipment
#9 109 Points College Scholarships for Seniors
The committee recommended that the Driver’s Education and College Scholarships should not be funded at this time. There are many college scholarship opportunities in existence, and the Career Center is an excellent resource that can provide help and direction to seniors seeking scholarships. Driver’s Education scholarships are also currently available through 4J, but they are not being utilized. Until the existing scholarships are used, Parent Council should not fund this item. Parent Council may want to explore ways to educate parents and students about the availability of Driver’s Education scholarships.
In addition, the committee recommended that textbook sets for classrooms, mounting projectors in classrooms, purchasing more smart boards, improvements to the practice field, and purchasing more cardio and fitness equipment all be examined in conjunction with a teacher/department wish list. Unfortunately, the committee felt it was too late in the budget process to ask teachers for a wish list at this time. Doing so would delay finalizing a budget, and the administration needs to know what Parent Council will fund for next year.
The strong parental support for a grant writer was interpreted by the committee as a desire to find more ways to raise more funds for Parent Council to allocate to school programs.
The Additional Funding Suggestions section of the survey included a wide range of specific suggestions, but the vast, vast, vast majority of the suggestions involved more staffing - teacher staffing, counselor staffing, health center staffing, etc. This desire to fund additional staffing was also interpreted as a desire to raise more funds for Parent Council to use in supporting school programs.
Based on the results of the survey, the committee came to two major conclusions:
• Continue supporting the current programs - Library, Music, and Volunteer Coordinator
• Raise more funds so Parent Council can support more programs
Review Current Financial Situation
The first step in actually formulating a budget for next year was to review our current financial situation. This process started with a review of the 2007-2008 Parent Council Budget, as of July 1, 2007, the beginning of our fiscal year. Please see the attached copy of the budget for reference. Note that funds raised in one year are then used to budget for the following year. Parent Council raised $32,037 in 2006-2007, but was budgeted to spend $38,403 during 2007-2008. Because of the build-up of the “surplus” funds in the Mental Health Fund over the past several years, Parent Council was able to budget more in 2007-2008 than they raised in 2006-2007, and still have $7,000 in reserve funds and $24,088 in undesignated funds. Because mental health is now being funded through grants, these undesignated, or “surplus,” funds prompted the Funding Appropriations Survey.
The next step in the budget process was to estimate our remaining income and expenses for 2007-2008 in order to determine our total assets as of the end of the year. Note that estimating is done very conservatively, with income being underestimated and expenses being overestimated. The figures will change as actual income and expenses come in. At this time, it is estimated we will end the year with $56,941 in assets, which is $12,000 less than our assets at the beginning of the year.
Review Proposed Budget for 2008-2009
The Proposed Parent Council Budget for 2008-2009 was then presented and reviewed. See the attached copy of the proposed budget for reference.
The Assets section is now based on the projected fundraising income for 2007-2008, plus the carryover of funds earned in previous years. The overriding observation is that fundraising is down significantly. Specifically, income from Chinook books is $3,240 less than last year. (Note that Chinook books will not be distributed in the Eugene/Springfield area next year, so income from this source will be $-0- next year.) Income from the Directory is down $50, Registration Donations are down $1,594, Scrip revenue is projected to be down $2,127, and Interest Income is projected to be down $290. The total reduction is fundraising income for 2007-2008 is anticipated to be $7,391.
Meanwhile, the administration has asked Parent Council to fund the same School Program items as in the past several years:
$12,713 Library - 2.25 Hours/Day
$10,800 Music - 0.12 FTE
$11,300 Volunteer Coordinator - 2.0 Hours/Day
$ 1,280 4J/EEF Equity
$36,094 Total School Programs Request
In the Liabilities section of the Proposed Budget, scrip reserves have been reduced by $2,000, since the majority of scrip is now e-scrip and we do not have to purchase as much paper scrip as in the past. Several items in the Routine Budget Items section have also been reduced based on actual expenditures over the past two years. The School Programs section - for Library, Music, and Volunteer Coordinator - is increasing by $1,341. Undesignated funds are anticipated to be $13,397, which is $10,691 less than 2007-2008.
The reduced undesignated funds can be attributed to the reduced fundraising over the last two years. Because we are not raising enough funds to cover the administration’s requests for funding, we have been using undesignated funds to cover a portion of the funding. Basically, reduced fundraising means reduced undesignated funds.
The bottom-line conclusion is that Parent Council is not raising enough funds in one year to cover the funding requests for the next year. We are having to use a significant portion of undesignated funds to meet our expenses. We cannot continue to do this year after year - it is not fiscally responsible. Based on this information, the Budget Committee is recommending that we keep our anticipated undesignated funds for 2008-2009 in a Fundraising Reserve. Some of these funds could be used to explore and fund some additional fundraising ideas, as well as to meet fundraising shortfalls during the budget process next year. In essence, we have no “surplus” funds to spend at this time, and do not recommend funding any other items beyond the administration’s requests for Library, Music, and Volunteer Coordinator.
Questions & Approval of Budget
Questions about the budget were then answered, and Parent Council approved the Proposed Parent Council Budget for 2008-2009 as presented.
Fundraising Ideas
In order to maintain even our current level of support for school programs will mean increasing fundraising. The fundraising ideas that the Budget Committee discussed included:
• School Directory - Consider expanding the directory to include addresses and e-mails to make it more user friendly and useful, and raise the cost of the directory to $5.00 or $6.00 each.
• Registration Donations - Parent Council currently requests a $20 donation on the back-to-school fee form, and most people who give donations give $20. Consider increasing the requested donation to $25 or $30, and add a line on the form stating that the funds are used for Library, Music, and Volunteer Coordinator time.
• Back-to-School Mailing - Include an information sheet about Parent Council and the items funded by Parent Council in the back-to-school mailing. Also include an information sheet about scrip.
• Scrip Participation - Contact other schools with successful scrip programs and the e-scrip organization for ideas on how to increase scrip participation. Also, specifically target incoming freshman families, possibly with direct mailings and phone calls. Introduce scrip at freshman orientation in the spring, and follow up at Open House and Freshman Night in the fall. Have e-scrip sign-up helpers during Open House and Freshman Night to assist people in signing up. Send reminders to update cards and expiration dates to existing users. Consider hiring a marketing firm to design a marketing program and materials to be used by Parent Council year after year.
• Alumni Donations - Develop a plan to request donations from alumni. Conduct a test alumni donation drive using one particular alumni class, and if considered successful, expand over time to include other alumni classes.
• Grant Writing - Research the details of funding a grant writer and establishing a grant writing program.
• Development Director - Consider hiring a person experienced in strategic planning and fundraising development to design specific plans for increasing our fundraising efforts.
• Fundraising Master Calendar - Compile a master fundraising calendar for SEHS, showing who, when and what fundraising is done by the various groups at South. This could allow groups to schedule fundraising efforts when no other groups are fundraising, and allow groups to expand fundraising programs to include areas and ideas not being utilized by others.
