Strong support of schools appreciated

I feel extremely blessed to work for two communities that support their public schools to the extent that Lind and Ritzville do. I want to thank both communities for their recent support of the Maintenance and Operation replacement levies that were on the Feb. 14 ballot. In these tough economic times, it is not a given that an M & O levy will pass. However, both Lind and Ritzville demonstrated their strong support for their schools by passing their levies at significantly high rates – THANK YOU!

As I mentioned, the Lind and Ritzville School Districts ran M & O replacement levies, and both school districts ran these levies at a higher rate than in previous years. In addition, both school districts have received less state funding in recent years, and there is the potential that both districts could face additional cuts as the legislature addresses the current state deficit. At the same time, the transportation cooperative will potentially purchase a brand new seventy-two-passenger bus for roughly $110,000. How can this be? Why would our districts purchase a bus when we know we are facing the potential of additional cuts from the state?

First of all, the finances we use to purchase buses come from a fund called the TVF (Transportation Vehicle Fund). TVF funds can only be used for major transportation repairs or bus purchases.

Districts receive state depreciation dollars on buses that are currently in their fleet, and these funds go into the TVF. For example, our transportation cooperative has twenty-six buses, and we receive depreciation on twenty-two of them.

Buses depreciate over a period of time ranging from eight to 18 years (depending on the type and size of bus). At this time, we have $170,401 in our transportation cooperative TVF, which provides us with the opportunity to purchase a new bus. By doing so, we will now have another bus on our depreciation schedule that will generate additional dollars back into our TVF fund. Basically, this process is designed to help districts maintain an updated fleet of buses within their transportation department.

I hope the information related to the purchase of buses helps clarify the process. My intention is to avoid the misconception that we are asking for additional public funds while receiving less state funding, and buying expensive new buses.

I would also like to provide an update on our progress towards the creation of the academic cooperative.

Following the release of the initial staffing assignments and schedule, our administrative team began meeting with teachers and the various departments that will join to form our middle school staff in Lind and our high school staff in Ritzville. Our administrative team will now meet and take into consideration the many recommendations from the different departments and will create a second schedule. Our goal is to have the updated schedule out to staff by Friday, Mar. 2.

Our administrative team has also scheduled a meeting in early March to begin discussing how to approach the multitude of decisions that need to be made related to graduation, combining programs, updating transportation policies, addressing traditions from both schools, etc.

In January, we began the process of conducting joint board meetings. On a monthly basis, we are alternating the board meeting location between Lind and Ritzville. This month we will meet in Ritzville, in the grade school gym, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

We have also begun the process of creating a cooperative agreement between the Lind and Ritzville school districts. To begin this work, we held a joint board work session in early February. Most likely, we will hold another work session in March, and then bring a draft of the cooperative agreement to the March board meeting in Lind.

Finally, we have also been working on transportation issues and the route changes that will occur during the 2012-2013 school year. The proposed routes have been shared with the school board and our bus drivers.

We will schedule a meeting in March to share the information with parents so they have the opportunity to preview the routes in order to gain an understanding of how the academic cooperative will affect transportation for their children.

As always, if you have any questions about any items I have addressed in this article, or if you have any questions about any other issues, please feel free to contact me in Lind at 677-3481 or [email protected], or in Ritzville at 659-1660 or [email protected].