Farmington School Year Marked by Big Changes, Smaller Budget

Executive Director of Business Mary Reynolds said the district had one heck of a year, with lots of changes and a little anxiety.

She presented the district’s year-end report on the budget at the Board of Education's July 19 meeting. Of the three areas included in the report – the budget, facilities, and health and wellness – the district’s facilities saw the most change and required the most effort, she said.

Near the end of last school year, the district announced that four elementary schools would close. This year, the district faced the daunting task of reusing and recycling as much material as it could from those buildings. To meet that end, everything from shelving and closets, to heating and cooling equipment was used in the district’s remaining schools, Reynolds said. An estimated 9,000 boxes of materials were taken out of the closed schools to the remaining buildings.

“Our intent was sustainability and to reuse the equipment we had in our grasp,” she said. In addition, every facility in the district has some sort of “green” activities, which include recycling plans and energy reduction.

The latter saves significant money and natural resources.

“We looked at the cost avoidance (related to sustainability) and it was $6.8 million in utilities” since 2005, Reynolds said. That represents a 37 percent decrease in gas and electricity usage, according to the report.

As for the budget portion of the report, Reynolds said, “We continued to work on a proactive model this year.” The district held budget workshops, and earlier this year explored possible privatization of non-instructional services. Though the district opted to continue to have those services – nutrition, transportation, maintenance and custodial – provided by district employees, the report stated that the private contractor proposals were “used as a basis for discussions with our Associations” during their contract negotiations.

The district also received one-time funding for the Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also popularly called the federal stimulus) and EdJobs Funds. A capital projects list totaling $1.7 million was developed. But despite the fact that many items were re-used following the school closures, a deferred capital projects list remains, with a total of more than $100 million.

Reynolds said that the district continues to provide health and wellness programs. The district’s health, dental and vision benefits help to keep employees physically and mentally well, according to the report, which also states, “The District is investigating Guided Behavioral Care which will manage and reduce health care claim cost. It also reduces employees’ co-insurance and out-of-pocket expenses” in addition to reducing the district’s health care costs, Reynolds said.