The purpose of this agenda item is to review the projected end of the year balance. The contingency fund for the 15-16 fiscal year is $100,000. We have allocated approximately $30,000 for an additional special education para educator. The unallocated contingency is $70,000 at this time. We will also have a potential end of the year balance remaining in the referendum operational funds of approximately $914,000.. Overall, I project that the end of the year balance will be positive by approximately $1,000,000 (including referendum funds). Please also note that I project that the department/building carry over fund balance will decrease due to projects being completed.

The purpose of this agenda item is to continue the discussions of budget parameters for salary increases. A cover memo and the salary options spreadsheet have been attached for your review. Please note that the discussions with both the Human Resources Committee and the Teacher Points Committee has focused around Version 3 of the options. We will spend some time at the meeting updating the committee on the discussions surrounding this topic. No action is being requested on this topic in January. The Administration is requesting that the Human Resources Committee forward a salary increase recommendation as a first review at the January 11th, 2016 School Board meeting. 

The purpose of this agenda item is to review the draft budget timeline. The draft timeline has been attached for your review. Please note that the draft timeline includes a Special School Board meeting during the month of January. This meeting will take place on January 18th. I am seeking input from the committee on the first draft of the budget timeline. I will be requesting School Board approval of the budget timeline at the February 8th, 2016 meeting.

The purpose of this agenda item is to review the draft budget forecast. The draft budget forecast has been attached for your review. Please note that the draft budget forecast includes multiple models of projecting student enrollment. The administration is recommending that we use the 5 year cohort model to forecast enrollment for the 16-17 fiscal year. We are planning to use these numbers for the open enrollment capacity planning, and believe this is the most prudent approach at this time. This enrollment projection results in a student count that is 66 students higher in 16-17. I do not believe that 5 year budget forecasts have significant value at this point due to the significant variations in school funding that we have seen from state budget to state budget. At this time, we are more realistically planning from one state budget to another until school funding becomes more stable. However, a five year budget forecast can identify trends, such as enrollment growth, that can be helpful in the budget planning process.

The purpose of this agenda item is to review the draft budget guidelines. The draft budget guidelines has been attached for your review. Please note that the budget guidelines document identifies the number of sections and staffing for grades K-6, while estimating the staffing for grades 7-12.  The staffing levels for grades 7-12 are reviewed during the student scheduling process later this spring. The draft budget guidelines document provides a framework for developing the first draft of the budget in May. I would like to spend some time discussing the last page of the budget guidelines. The last page provides a "Big Picture Overview" of the 2016-17 budget.

There are no proposals to discuss this month.

The purpose of this agenda item is to discuss the transportation contract with Lamers Bus Lines. The existing contract expires at the conclusion of the 2016 summer school session. There are several options for moving forward that I would like to discuss with the committee. These options include:

1. Bidding the transportation contract this spring for a 5-7 year term
2. Extend the current transportation contract by a 1 year term
3. Do not bid the transportation contract and sign a new 5-year contract with Lamers

The new Intermediate School will open on September 1st, 2016. The WCSD transportation system is based on a double-run of pre-K through 4th grade students first, and then 5th through 12th grade students second. The double-run transportation system is extremely efficient, but very complex to operate. In addition, Board of Education policies allow students who are not eligible for transportation to pay for daycare transportation. We also transport students between elementary schools as a result of transfers, daycare options, or parent requests. The bottom line is that our transportation system is extremely complicated compared to many other school district transportation systems.

The new Intermediate School will require a change in starting school times, and may require changes in the ending school times. The 5th through 12th grade bus run cannot drop students off on time in all three schools once the Intermediate School is located west of Q. In addition, the walking/bus riding zones for 5th and 6th grade students will change. This change then results in a change in many of the 5th through 12th grade bus routes. Our transportation system will be faced with multiple changes/challenges as a result of the new Intermediate School.

At this time, the Administration is not recommending option 3. Due to the changes we are facing with the new Intermediate School the Administration is requesting consideration of a 1-year contract extension with Lamers. Lamers has offered to extend the contract with a rate increase of 2.5%. We have had numerous service issues with Lamers in the recent past. However, there have been improvements made during the 2015-16 school year and the number of complaints has reduced significantly. The Administration is concerned that having a contractor change at the same time as a new school change occurs would introduce significant risk into the district transportation system. We would further recommend a bidding process prior to the 2017-18 school year that would result in the selection of a bus contractor for a 5-7 year term. I would like to bring this topic forward to the School Board for discussion by the February meeting. 

Link to new webpage on District Business Services site: 
http://www.waunakee.k12.wi.us/district/Procedures-Internal_Controls.cfm