BV Board approves $17.3 million budget

MANLIUS — Budgets set priorities, and the Bureau Valley School Board and Superintendent Jason Stabler reviewed some of the district’s priorities Monday evening at a budget hearing before the board unanimously approved a financial plan that calls for spending nearly $17.3 million for the 2019-20 school year.

One of those priorities is replacing the 1997 HVAC system at Bureau Valley High School, which will be out of date as of Jan. 1 when the refrigerant Freon will no longer be allowed to be added to it.

Another priority is leasing a school bus with a lift so the district can accommodate students with special needs.

A third is how best to pay for a school resource officer and upgrade school security cameras.

A fourth is the need for more staff — a guidance counselor, a part-time special education teacher and speech pathologist — to meet the needs of students.

The budget as approved addresses those issues, as well as targets nearly $1.9 million in bond funds to complete payments on the district’s $12 million junior high addition, which opened last month in Manlius.

Stabler reviewed the proposed final budget with the board, pointing out areas where it had been adjusted compared to the tentative budget that was approved last month.

One of those areas is adding about $134,000 in spending to the education fund, to take into account additional costs that will be incurred due to salary increases included in the new two-year teachers’ contract.

Stabler also pointed out the district’s utility costs at its Manlius campus will likely rise with the new addition now in use, but the district also has one less building since the former Bureau Valley South attendance center in Buda has been closed and sold to Concord Township.

The district is budgeted to receive total revenue of more than $15.5 million, so the budget technically is out of balance by more than $1.7 million, but that is due to spending more than $1.8 million in leftover bond funds during the current fiscal year.

In other business, board members spent time discussing when the 2020 high school graduation date should be, after high school Principal Duane Price said the administration was considering the afternoon of Sunday, May 17, as the date.

Board members Lynn Olds and Andy Spencer suggested that Saturday, May 16, should be considered. That way, parents who host graduation parties afterward would not have a weekday work day the next morning.

Board President Justin Yepsen suggested the administration consult staff members and high school seniors to determine their preference.

The board also:

• Observed a moment of silence in honor of Craig Freeman of Walnut, who died last week in a motorcycle accident. Freeman is the father of a Bureau Valley student, and he was in the first class that attended Bureau Valley, Superintendent Jason Stabler said.

• Heard in a construction update from Yepsen that final details on the new addition are close to being wrapped up. More benches for the courtyard are being ordered, and work still needs to be completed on the basketball courts and playground fence.

• Approved a resolution for an intergovernmental agreement with the village of Buda to use their property downtown, the Younggren Center, for a bus stop.

• Approved a three-year lease with Midwest Bus Sales for a 47-passenger bus with a lift for students with special needs, at an annual cost of $23,500. The bus will be equipped with air conditioning, as one student on a particular route has a medical need for it.

• Approved the employment of Miranda Wetzell as Bureau Valley Junior High School newspaper sponsor.

• Congratulated board member Lynn Olds upon obtaining Master Board Member, Level 1 status.

• Learned that Caseelynn Johnston, agriculture teacher, has received an IAA Foundation ag education teacher grant.

• Learned that the 70 new wind turbines built in Bureau County within the school district will be added to the district’s equalized assessed value for the upcoming tax levy, with the district receiving tax dollars from the new wind farm for the first time next year.

• Approved payment of nearly $430,000 in bills and nearly $495,000 in payroll.