OURAY SCHOOLS

The Ouray School Board unanimously approved its 2019 – 2020 budget, with the caveat it will revisit teacher salaries after the financial audit of the district is complete and student enrollment numbers are finalized in October.

The district’s budget accounts for approximately $330,000 less for students from state funding, accounting for a drop in enrollment expected in the fall. Superintendent Scott Pankow has estimated as many as 22 students won’t be returning to Ouray Schools, with some families citing a shortage of affordable housing as their reason for leaving the district.

Board members Sandy Kern, Nate Disser, Nicole Skoloda and Bryan Williams approved the budget after listening to concerns from teachers who attended the meeting Monday night. Some of those concerns included a lack of a cost-of-living increase in the budget for teachers.

“It’s a really big deal in this budget, not having an increase to the base of the teachers’ salaries,” Skoloda said. “It’s definitely not something I’m comfortable with.”

Teachers last received an across-the-board raise after the mill levy override passed in 2017, which provided an estimated 3 percent raise to the base salary and approximately $300,000 per year. Voters approved the measure with the promise it would sunset in 10 years, so the funding isn’t guaranteed forever.

At this point, the district has not reduced the number of teaching positions or limited programming with the loss of per-pupil funding. But without a beginning fund balance to cushion the budget and the mill-levy override, the situation would be more severe and the consequences more dire than not approving cost-of-living increases, board members said.

Disser said while he supports teacher raises philosophically, he couldn’t approve raises that left the district with a negative balance and they needed to be fiscally responsible.

“The numbers are the numbers,” he said.

To this point, the district has been able to use contingency money to compensate for the loss in funding.

“My goal is to not cut people or programs,” said Pankow, adding if more students leave the district, “we’re just about at that tipping point.”

While the current budget keeps programs and positions intact, Pankow warned if revenue dips more, “it’s close to where we’re going to have to start cutting programming.”

Williams said he worried about the potential for low morale when teachers return from summer break without cost-of-living increases.

Disser said it’s important to convey to staff that the board isn’t shutting the door on increased compensation by adopting the budget now.

“One of us can say we passed the budget as is, however we’re going to do everything in our power to revisit this and make those types of increases or the facts present themselves to allow that to happen,” Disser said, and the other board members agreed.

The board also debated the classified salary schedule and postponed adopting it. Much of the discussion centered on whether the document was a “guideline” for administrators to use as reference or an actual salary schedule. Williams expressed concerns about pay for paraprofessionals who serve severe-needs students, which show a starting salary making almost $3 per hour less than a starting administrative assistant.

“I feel like that’s just way too low,” he said.

Board members also discussed options for raising activity fees, following the Ridgway School Board’s consideration of the same proposal earlier this month. Currently, students pay $50 per sport in high school and $25 per sport in middle school, with a $150 maximum per family in a school year. Two proposals are under consideration, which would raise fees to at least $85 per sport with a $225 family maximum.

Board members discussed whether to allow fees paid at neighboring districts to count toward a family cap on activity fees, though they don’t receive money from those payments. The board agreed to have a special meeting July 1 to further discuss athletic fees and classified salaries.

The board also accepted Williams’ resignation, who is leaving the area due to lack of affordable housing. Board members briefly discussed advertising the open position and the upcoming school board election in November, in which Board President Kentee Pasek’s seat is up for election.

According to state law, the board has 60 days to appoint a qualified person to the vacancy. If the board fails to appoint someone during this period of time, the board president can make the appointment. The law also states if a vacancy occurs more than 90 days prior to the November school board election, the appointee will serve until that election.