By Mary Alice Murphy

The Aldo Leopold Charter School Governing Council held a special meeting Monday evening, April 25, 2016 to address the budget and to discuss negotiations for a facility for the school's middle school.

The first item discussed was the school calendar for next school year, 2016-2017.

School Director Eric Ahner said the calendar was close to that of previous years. The fall break would align with Silver Schools' fall break. And the spring break would align with the public schools and Western New Mexico University.

Finance Director Harry Browne presented the preliminary budget of $2,220,993, leaving net funds at the end of the year of about $552,000. Ahner said the salary schedule reflects a 3 percent increase for teachers. "We have modified items, by weighting some salaries so that those who make the most don't get the same percentage jump, so it's more equitable."

Ken Stone, council chairman, asked how the salaries compared with Silver Schools. He was told the salaries for teachers are similar to those of Silver, but administrative salaries are less than at the Silver Schools.

Browne said the average salary is $37,000 to $38,000 a year, which includes all new hires.

He said the preliminary budget assumed that the enrollment would include two sixth grade classrooms at the main campus, with one each seventh and eight grade classrooms at the new facility. The total enrollment is estimated to be 180.

For the line item of lease reimbursement, Browne said the assumption was the there would be no lease to purchase before July, and that the school would be in the new building for about five months. "We should have a lease to purchase for the last six months. We are also anticipating more than usual high needs among incoming students. We are also expecting the hire of an assistant principal when were are in the new facility."

He said the idea was to have a half-time assistant principal as a half-time teacher.

"The idea of a charter school is to have fewer administrators and more teachers," Browne said. "When we are in one facility, we can redirect administrative costs."

He noted there would be a lag in facility reimbursement, with the current year based on the one facility they are in. "We would need the lease agreement by the July meeting."

The 3 percent increase for teachers would create a deficit of $70,000. "But it's not scary with our reserves. And when we're in the new building, we will have reserves if we need extensive remodeling."

"Things we would like to see at the new building," Browne continued, "would be a garden space. We would like to use the present parking lot for a garden, but we won't expect the owner to pay that."

Ahner said the cost of $16,000 to $20,000 of equipment is in the budget. "With a commercial kitchen, we could apply to provide a lunch program. That would be an option, but we have to research the feasibility of it."

Council member David Peck said running a school lunch program "is not fun. Sure there are good examples, but there are a lot of restrictions."

Browne said Ahner had asked him to do a fiscal year 2018 budget as a projection. "We would need 190 to 200 students and two more certified teachers."

Ahner said the high school is capped at 120 students and the middle school at 90, which total 210 as the charter school cap. With only one large room at the facility available to start with, the school could have 34 students at the new facility and 145 at the present high school.

"We need to approve the budget at the May 12 meeting," Browne said. "We need approval for Title I and II and the IDEA-B by June."

The IDEA-B is for some special classes and is used for aides in special education and ancillary services. "I don't expect changes to them. Title I is likely to change for special services before or after school."

He said the term at-risk students meant low income. If the school has more than 40 percent low income, the students are perceived as at-risk. According to Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities, the students in the area are 57 percent income poor.

"We have advertised for a Title I reading specialist," Browne said. "Up to now, we have offered after school tutoring, which has been funded by Title I. It's called Support for Academic Success."

He noted that Aldo Leopold asks more of its teachers than in traditional schools.

Action items on the agenda included support of the board for moving forward on negotiations for the building; the approval of the school year calendar and accepting the salary schedule as presented. They also moved to accept budget adjustment requests of an addition of $6,692 to the Title II funding, which supports class size reduction and to offset giving more classes to two teachers. Another BAR was for $9,316 divided for the teacher who leads the program and the assistant and adds benefits. A BAR of $2,998 went to the IDEA-B special education speech therapists, for one third the cost. The final BAR of $313 would be carried over into next year's budget.

The members of the governing council approved the calendar for the next school year, the salary schedule, the BARs, and went into executive session to discuss the negotiations for the additional building.

No action was taken in closed session, but after coming out, the members moved to support Ahner in moving forward to pursue a lease agreement for an amount not to exceed $800,000 plus renovations or the appraised value of the building, whichever was lower. The school will put $150,000 down at a 5 percent interest rate, for approximately $5,600 a month for about 20 years.

The next regular governing council meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, May 12, at the school building.