By Judy Reed
Board reorganizes
The Cedar Springs Board of Education swore in three newly elected members and reorganized offices at their first board meeting of the new school year, on Monday, July 12. Sworn in was Shannon VanderHyde, Matthew Shoffner, and Jeff Gust.
The board voted to approve Joe Marckini as president, Brooke Nichols as vice-president, Tim Avery as secretary, and Todd Hanson as treasurer.
School to amend budget
Now that the State of Michigan has decided how much they will pay school districts for the 2010-2011 school year, school districts across the state, including Cedar Springs, will need to amend their budgets. According to Assistant Superintendent David Cairy, they will base their funding on a foundation allowance of $7,162 per student, which is $11 more than last year, but less than they budgeted. “We budgeted based on the information we had,” he noted. Cairy said the deficit will be about $180,000. “It shouldn’t affect us that much, because not all of the expenses are in yet,” he said, noting that there have been much bigger swings in funding.
School to partner with KISD on business services
Cedar Springs Public Schools, known for its innovative methods in teaching and training, took a new step budget-wise for this school year by consolidating some business services with the Kent Intermediate School District. Under the plan, Cedar Springs will allow an employee at the KISD to work with their web-based payroll system to cut paychecks. Accounts payable and human resources have also been moved to the KISD. “We will still keep the oversight, but all that data entry will be done at the KISD,” explaned Dave Cairy. He said it would save the district about $75,000 per year. “It’s all about trying to do things more efficiently to keep money in the classroom,” he explained.
Other districts are also moving business services to the KISD, including Comstock Park, Sparta, and Kent City. Some of them will also move technology services, but Cedar Springs will not. “We have a strong technology department that does phenomenal work,” said Cairy.
