Early childhood education is one of the few bright spots in Springfield Public Schools' $303 million spending plan for the 2020-21 year.
The district, as part of a multi-year effort to expand preschool access and support the Parents As Teachers program, increases funding in this area.
The nearly $873,000 in additional funds will be needed to staff the new Adah Fulbright Early Childhood Center, opening in August on the same West Battlefield Road campus as Carver Middle School.
The positions include six classroom teachers, six paraprofessionals, one counselor, one assistant director, one secretary and one specialty teacher. They will be paid for out of federal Title I funding, designed to help level the playing field for children from families struggling to make ends meet.
Deputy Superintendent Carol Embree developed the conservative spending plan, which assumed deep cuts to state funding to K-12 education and busing will remain in effect during the upcoming school year.
She said as cuts were made this spring amid the coronavirus pandemic, the priorities of the budget shifted. The five priorities, in order, include:
- Maintain current staffing levels for instruction and student supports
- Salary and benefits of current teachers
- Strategies and staffing to help under-resourced and underrepresented students
- Instructional and support staff who impact classrooms
- Support for current initiatives and programs
"When COVID occurred, we identified that maintaining our current staffing levels, to employ our people, was paramount," Embree said.
"We are going to continue to focus on delivering for our students and supporting them in all their needs."
Read More: Area superintendent mows campus to save money amid state budget cuts
The budget approved by the school board includes $3.6 million in new funds to provide "step" increases, or move them up a salary schedule, based on gaining years of service or advanced degrees.
A proposed 1 percent cost-of-living increase, contingent on state funding levels in early 2021, appears highly unlikely.
The district spent an additional $1.5 million to cover higher health care premiums, used to shore up the Health Benefit Trust Fund, the district's self-insured plan. The amount in that fund dropped due to higher-than-expected medical claims.
Related: SPS issues safety rules for 2,700+ students returning to class in July
The district covers health insurance premiums for employees but they pay the premiums to cover dependents.
Higher property and workers compensation insurance costs are reflected in the budget along with these items:
- $251,960 — Open the Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, a new magnet program for fifth-graders this fall
- $141,625 — Transport students from Williams Elementary, which is being rebuilt, to a temporary location, the Old Sherwood building
- $65,000 — Cost of moving and storing items to support bond-funded projects
- $64,164 — Redesign alternative programs for elementary and middle school students
- $25,000 — Grow Your Own Program, which provides incentives for individuals from diverse backgrounds to become teachers
- $21,000 — Pay for FBI background checks for volunteers
- $14,700 — Eliminate contracted services to help students with dyslexia and bring on a full-time staffer for the work
- $12,000 — Upgrade phone systems
"We have phones throughout the district that repeatedly fail and do not provide the level of support that the people in our buildings deserve," Embree said.
Upgrades: Springfield district demolishes Williams Elementary to build bigger school
To offset a steep drop in state funding, the district is expecting slightly more in local tax revenue. It will also receive additional funds from the expansion of Launch, a platform for virtual learning available in about half of Missouri districts, and federal aid because of the pandemic.
COVID-19, and the economic upheaval that followed, required the district to retool the 2020-21 budget. Board member Charles Taylor took note of the changes.
"It is really quite remarkable how much the budget as changed from the time we first gathered to talk about this and today," he said.
Claudette Riley is the education reporter for the News-Leader. Email news tips to criley@news-leader.com and consider supporting vital local journalism by subscribing. Learn more by visiting News-Leader.com/subscribe.
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