Moscow School District expands role of public

The Moscow School District is working toward making its 2000-2001 budget process as public as possible by increasing the size of two committees involved with budgeting.

After school leaders were accused last year of not being open during a $700,000 budget crisis and not listening to the public's concerns, Superintendent Edward Fisk said he plans to expand the membership of the budget committee and administrative council. The goal is to get a broader range of community input from groups that oversee the process.

Fisk told school board members Tuesday night that he's recommending those committees be increased with community members interested in the overall shape of the kindergarten through 12th-grade budget. He wants to avoid accepting members representing special interest groups.

Today, Fisk said the administrative council, made up of district administrators, likely will add representatives from parent advisory groups to its committee. That group will meet in January to decide how those new members will be selected.

The administrative council is responsible for putting together the first draft of the district's budget and presenting those requests to the budget committee.

The budget committee then recommends changes to the budget before presenting it to the school board. Last year, the budget committee was made up of seven members, including school staff representatives and one community member. Fisk said he hopes to include more residents on that committee as well, though new members probably won't be appointed until early next year.

As was done this year, the budget committee's recommendations will be taken to the school board sometime in the spring. The school board will hold public hearings and have the final say on what is included in the 2000-2001 budget.

Besides expanding those committees, Fisk told the board he also has kept a close eye on enrollment to ensure there won't be a sudden drop in numbers as there was last year. A loss of about 250 students from the fall of 1996 to 1999, was blamed for the district's budget crunch in the spring. So far this year, Fisk said enrollment at the elementary and junior high levels seems to be steady. Currently, there are 14 more students in the elementary schools than was expected when the budget was done last year and three fewer students at the junior high.

However, at the high school there are 45 fewer students than were planned for in the spring.

Still, Fisk said he's confident the current enrollment numbers will remain constant as the district prepares its budget for the next school year. If those numbers don't drop any lower, the district will be able to avoid the budgetary problems it had last year. From the beginning of the 1998 school year to last spring, the district lost 83 students.

"(Enrollment) did drop last year but I think last year was unusual," Fisk said.