<p> MISD NEWS</p><p>I hope everyone is having a great albeit dry and hot summer. In the school district, we’ve been working hard ending the 2010-11 school year and eagerly planning for a fantastic 2011-12 year. Along with all of the clean-up duties that are conducted on our campuses, in which our custodial and maintenance crew do an absolutely phenomenal job, the two departments that definitely work overtime during the summer are our human resources department and our finance department. Staffing our schools and our departments effectively and efficiently is a challenge every spring and summer. Also, closing the old budget and preparing the budget that will sustain us for the new year are daunting tasks.</p><p>In light of this, I am putting the focus of my article this month on our budget. Now that the legislature has adjourned, we know the full implications of the funding decisions the state has approved. As reported to our school board members during our normal July meeting, below are the preliminary figures we are looking at for the 2011-12 MISD budget. Much has been said and written about the challenges our legislators faced in this session. Now that they are home, the challenge is ours to produce a budget that will put together the very best educational programs that the children of Midland absolutely deserve.</p><p>To begin the district’s budget discussions with our board and with the community as a whole, we have laid out four major goals that we want to achieve with our new budget. These goals are the following: (1) submit to the MISD Board of Trustees a balanced budget for the 2011-12 school year; (2) base the new budget proposal on the current tax rate and do not ask our community for a tax hike; (3) continue to emphasize academic excellence on all campuses and as a district; and (4) make a statement to all MISD employees with the budget that shows our commitment to them, even in light of the sacrifices that will be made.</p><p>With those four initiatives in mind, we have submitted the following budget proposal to our board of trustees (the revenue figures include the estimates for the 2011-12 budget and the comparisons to the 2010-11 budget). I will first give the raw figures and then provide a narrative to explain the proposals.</p><p>I. Estimated Revenue (2010-11) = $152,163,238 Estimated Revenue (2011-12) = $143,235,152 Deficit = $ -8,928,086</p><p>II. Appropriation Requests to Date for 2011-12 = $151,148,065</p><p>III. Appropriation Decision Based on Revenue Estimates = $143,307,666 Revenue Explanation:</p><p>Using the same revenue figure that was provided to us from the state of Texas in 2010-11, the district was going to see a little over $152 million in funds. Because of the reduction of state aid for the new budget, it looks like Midland ISD will be reduced by almost $9 million – the revenue estimate for our new budget comes out to $143,235,152. </p><p>Appropriation Requests Explanation:</p><p>During our normal budget cycle that usually starts early in the spring semester, every campus and district department/program submits appropriation requests to our finance office. They do this with no real knowledge of what the revenue estimates will be – they request what they feel will fully fund the programs at the campus and department levels. Because our budget, over the last couple of years, has been in the range of around $150 million that supports our 22,000 students and 30+ campuses, it came as no real surprise that the initial appropriations requested were at $151.1 million. This was definitely in line with what we had to work with in the past.</p><p>Appropriation Decision Explanation:</p><p>Here is where the rubber meets the road – because of the reduction in state and federal funding, we had to make very challenging decisions to reduce our appropriations’ requests. As I’ve pointed out in previous articles, we began working on these cost-savings initiatives very early in the spring to get ready for the legislature’s final decision. The following are examples of some of the more extensive cuts we have made in the district in order to balance our 2011-12 budget proposal:</p><p> $4,000,000 – Staff Reductions through Attrition  $1,400,000 – Internal General Fund Program Cuts  $970,000 – Prekindergarten Realignment Savings  $655,000 – Transportation Savings (Buses and G/T Program)  $300,000 – Central Office Reorganization</p><p>These are just a few examples of the decisions we have proposed to balance our budget. Looking at Roman Numeral III above, we have now whittled our appropriations requests down from $151.1 million to $143,307,666. Comparing this figure to our revenue estimate for the new budget ($143,235,152), we are now within about $75,000 of balancing the budget, and that seventy-five thousand will be cut as well before the final version of the budget is presented to the board for adoption in August.</p><p>As we continue to analyze our initial budget proposal, the board and the administration will remain focused on the four goals. 1st – It is the administration’s intention to present a totally balanced budget to the board for adoption during our regular August board meeting. This will mean difficult decisions on our part, but the MISD Board of Trustees and this community deserve a school district budget that reflects good, solid fiduciary responsibility. </p><p>2nd – We will not seek to balance the budget by a rise in the M&O tax rate ($1.04) that is currently in place. We will make the necessary cuts within our appropriation requests to come into line with our revenue estimates without a request for more funds from Midland taxpayers.</p><p>3rd – We will keep (and refocus) all of our energy on academic excellence. We will not allow this cut in state and federal revenue to become an excuse for lack of academic gains. In my opinion, this community witnessed phenomenal efforts by all school stakeholders this year. Our students deserve and will get the best programs for their educational journey through our school system. </p><p>4th – Included in this budget is a 1.5% salary increase proposal for MISD employees. From the federal jobs bill that was finally negotiated between Austin and Washington, DC, Midland ISD will realize around $3.3 million. We are going to infuse those funds directly into our employee payroll. I understand this is a minimal amount of actual increases to monthly paychecks, but we do feel our staff needs to understand that not only did we want to balance our budget without any staff layoffs, we also want to do everything we can to support their efforts with our children. The 3,000 employees of MISD have such a huge responsibility in our community, and we want them to know how much we do appreciate their commitment to and their efforts with our children. So, even in this time of budget cuts, we are going to make our commitment to them with this pay increase.</p><p>I want to close by thanking our community for the support MISD receives. Though we have only been Midlanders for one year now, my wife and I believe this move was the best we’ve made during our careers. Our school district and our community as a whole have huge challenges ahead. Some of these challenges are reactions to the decisions being made by our state and federal leaders, but many of these challenges are homemade. No matter the origins of these tests, I feel we are going to meet every single one of them. </p><p>If anyone has questions about the information in the article, or about anything else, do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your continued support of our schools and, most importantly, of our children.</p><p>Ryder Warren, Superintendent [email protected] (432) 689-1002</p>