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Creating Options Phase
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 Proposed Budget Options
Rev. May 5, 2011
The group of district administrators, who are the Design Team in this process, has created options for the Board of Education to consider in planning the budget for FY13 and beyond. The Design Team solicited feedback to this list of cost reductions via the district website, small group meetings and a community open house/town hall meeting over the course of three weeks in April. Based on that feedback, the Design Team made some revisions to the list of proposed cost reductions. Revisions include items that were clarified, changed, moved or added. Click here for a summary of the revisions.
The revised list of proposed options is below and includes a description and associated cost (click on the option for additional details). The list is also available for download. Options that where clarified, changed or moved are indicatated with a highlighted priority number.
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| 1. | Reduce building technology allocation budgets. | $100,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | All schools have a technology allocation for purchasing technology supplies and certain hardware.
The initial intent of the building technology allocation was to fund periodic computer equipment refresh. For the past several years, bond issues have been used to accomplish the equipment refresh. Building technology budgets are still needed to purchase consumables, such as batteries, projection bulbs and printer supplies. | | Impact: | There will be less funding available for technology equipment and supplies at the school building level. | | School Level: | Elementary, Middle, High |
| 2. | Continue transition of the technology support model; replace remaining five part-time Computer Support Specialist positions with two full-time technical support specialists. | $35,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | For the past several years, the district has transitioned the computer equipment technical support model from utilization of building specific 9.5 month part-time Computer Support Specialists (CSSs) to full-time technical support staff that are pooled and used as shared resources. The district currently has five remaining CSS positions that support five specific buildings. | | Impact: | This support model enables more efficient use of technical support resources. It reduces cost and provides technical support staff for project work during breaks and summer. Based on building feedback from previous transitions, we do not anticipate any adverse impact to technical support services by making this change. | | School Level: | Elementary, Middle |
| 3. | Eliminate the number of extended contract days for Family and Consumer Science (FACS) teachers. | $62,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | FACS teachers have an additional 10 days to prepare for and conclude the school year. These days are used to inventory supplies, purchase supplies, clean and service equipment, etc. | | Impact: | The number of extended days would be eliminated. FACS teachers will have less time to prepare for and conclude the school year. | | School Level: | High |
| 4. | Eliminate budgeted amount for custodial substitutes. | $400,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | Currently, if a custodian is absent from work, a substitute custodian is called in to cover those duties. | | Impact: | There will be no substitute available if a custodian is absent from work.
Cleaning services may be delayed at times. | | School Level: | Elemntary, Middle, High |
| 5. | Eliminate Exploratory Chinese at the middle school and remove the course offering at the high school (no current enrollment). | $42,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | Exploratory Chinese is a quarter elective class offered to sixth graders.
Exploratory Chinese is offered at the high school level, too. However, there are no students currently enrolled in this class. | | Impact: | Exploratory Chinese at the middle school will be eliminated and Exploratory Chinese will no longer be a course offering at the high school.
Middle school teachers who teach this class also teach other classes. They are able to have a full teaching schedule because of the Exploratory Chinese sections. Eliminating Exploratory Chinese will result in a reduction of world language sections. | | School Level: | Middle, High |
| 6. | Reduce ECA (extra-curricular) and co-curricular budgets district wide. | $165,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | High, middle, and elementary schools have budgets for extra-curricular and co-curricular activities such as clubs, competitions, contests, MSHSAA activities and sports. Funds from these budgets may be used for equipment, travel, and fees. | | Impact: | Principals and high school activity directors will make decisions regarding the prioritization of reductions of co-curricular and extra-curricular offerings. | | School Level: | Elementary, Middle, High |
| 7. | Reduce elementary music budget. | $100,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: |
Rockwood contracts with an outside vendor for maintenance and repairs ($40,000)
Elementary strings supply budget would be reduced by $60,000. | | Impact: |
Elementary strings teachers will assume responsibility for minor repairs and maintenance of instruments.
There would not be sheet music or new instrument purchases due to this reduction. Existing sheet music would be shared among schools. The District has some additional instruments should any in use by students be damaged and need to be replaced.
| | School Level: | Elementary |
| 8. | Standardize the number of extended contract days for secondary school counselors. | $15,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: |
The amount of extended days (after the school year ends) for counselors varies from school to school and by individual.
High school – 15 to 20 days
Middle school – 15 to 20 days
Elementary school – 0 days | | Impact: |
The number of extended contract days will now be:
High school – 15 days
Middle school – 15 days
Elementary school – 0 days
Counselors, particularly those in the high schools, will have reduced time for recordkeeping, transcripts, etc | | School Level: | Middle, High |
| 9. | Reduce the number of high school assistant principals by four. | $400,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | The four high schools have a lead principal, an associate principal and four grade level assistant principals, with the exception of Rockwood Summit High School. RSHS does not have an associate principal.
The state lists these standards for ratios of all students to building principals in the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP):
- MSIP minimum standard 500:1
- MSIP desirable standard 300:1
Rockwood’s current student to building principal ratios are:
- EHS - 331:1
- LHS - 334:1
- MHS - 369: 1
- RSHS - 262:1
| | Impact: | There will be an increase in the student to assistant principal ratio. This will result in assistant principals reducing the time they spend with:
- Students – daily interaction and discipline issues
- Teachers - classroom observations and Professional Learning Communities
- Parents – dialogue and conferences
It will increase the number of:
- Staff evaluations each principal must conduct
- After school and evening activities each principal must supervise
| | School Level: | High |
| 10. | Standardize the number of college/career specialists at the four high schools. | $100,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | College and career specialists work with students to assist them in making post-secondary school plans.
The current number of college/career specialists at the four high schools are:
EHS - one
RSHS - one
MHS - two
LHS – two | | Impact: | All four high schools would have a minimum of one college/career specialist.
This change returns the high schools to a model where the baseline is one college/career specialist per building.
| | School Level: | High |
| 11. | Freeze nurses’ salaries. | $50,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | RSD has increased nurses’ salaries over the past five years to make their salaries more competitive with other St. Louis County School Districts that have nurse step salary schedules.
When Rockwood’s nurse salary schedule is compared to the other county districts that have similar step salary schedules for nurses, Rockwood is in the bottom half of those districts.
All employee groups (administrators, support staff and custodians) except teachers and nurses have had their salaries frozen (0% increase) for FY12. Due to increases in required retirement contributions, this results in a reduction of .5 for certified administrators and .25 in salaries for non-certified staff. | | Impact: | This budget reduction would move nurses’ salaries lower into the bottom half of the St. Louis County region, when compared to districts that have nurse step salary schedules. | | School Level: | District |
| 12. | Freeze the salaries of all regular full and part-time professional teaching employees who are paid on the basis of the teacher salary schedule, excluding supervisory and administrative employees. | $3,230,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | The financial model Rockwood uses to project expenditures and plan for the budget includes a 3% increase in the budget for staff salaries and benefits.
Teacher salaries are based upon a model that gives small, but consistent, increases year to year based on experience in the district. A step is movement from one year of experience to the next year of experience. The teacher salary schedule, as approved in the Memorandum of Understanding, requires a 3% increase in 2011-12 to fund the step increases on the teacher salary schedule.
When Rockwood’s teacher salary schedule is compared to the 21 St. Louis County school Districts, Rockwood currently ranks 13th out of 21 school districts.
These employee groups - administrators, support staff and custodians - have had their salaries frozen (0% increase) for FY12. Due to increases in required retirement contributions, this results in a reduction of .5 for certified administrators and .25 in salaries for non-certified staff. Regular full and part-time professional teaching employees who are paid on the basis of the teacher salary schedule were not included in this salary freeze. | | Impact: | When Rockwood’s teacher salary schedule is compared to the 21 St. Louis County school districts, Rockwood currently ranks 13th out of 21 school districts.
Not funding the traditional salary steps on the teacher salary schedule impacts the district in several areas. It primarily reduces the ability to recruit and retain the highest quality teaching staff.
Research indicates teacher quality has a greater impact on student achievement than class size; rural, urban or suburban schools; student race; gender; or single vs dual parent families.
Staff impacted by this salary freeze includes: teachers, counselors, librarians, instructional resource teachers, technology resource teachers, early childhood teachers, early childhood special education teachers, speech language pathologists, psychometrists, content facilitators and data analysts.
| | School Level: | District |
| 13. | Eliminate elementary strings program. | $570,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | Beginning with the 2011-2012 school year, all elementary students in grade 3 are required to enroll in strings. Students in grades 4 and 5 have the choice of enrolling in strings or technology beginning in 2011-2012.
In the 2010-2011 school year, students in grades 3 and 4 were required to enroll in strings. Students in grade 5 have the choice of enrolling in strings or technology.
| | Impact: | Strings is an elective and is not required by the state to meet the required standards for music. All students in grades K-5 receive music instruction and meet the minutes required by Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) standards.
With the elimination of strings during the school day, the time allotted for strings instruction will be reallocated. | | School Level: | Elementary |
| 14. | Increase the distance for providing bus transportation at an estimated distance of 2.5 miles. | $1,500,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | The state of Missouri mandates bus transportation is provided to students who live more than 3.5 miles from their school. Rockwood transports students who live less than 3.5 miles from their school.
The district spends $40,000 a day on bus transportation. | | Impact: | There will be increased car traffic on streets and in school parking lots. | | School Level: | Elementary, Middle, High |
| 15. | Increase elementary class sizes in grades 4 and 5 by one student (maximum of 26 students). | $300,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | The Board of Education made the decision to lower 5th grade class sizes to be the same as 4th grade, beginning with the 2007-08 school year.
This means Rockwood meets the “desirable level +3” for 4th grade class sizes, as determined by the state’s Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) guidelines, for both 4th and 5th grades:
4th grade – 22 + 3
5th grade – 22 + 3
Currently, if a 4th or 5th grade class has more than 25 students assigned (on average), another section is added. This means an additional teacher is hired to reduce the average enrollment at that grade. | | Impact: | With the addition of one student to each class, 4th and 5th grade class sizes of 26 would be between the MSIP minimum and desirable standards for these grades.
MSIP 4th grade minimum - 27
MSIP 4th grade desirable – 22
MSIP 5th grade minimum - 30
MSIP 5th grade desirable - 25
This would result in an estimated reduction of five elementary teachers district wide.
| | School Level: | Elementary |
| 16. | Reduce one classroom teaching assistant (TA) at each elementary school. | $320,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | Classroom assistants assigned to each elementary school have these responsibilities:
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Library media assistant – this person assists the librarian with classes (Flex Schedule), checking out books, etc.
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School assistant- this person assists with a variety of tasks in the classroom and during lunch and recess.
| | Impact: | Administrators and teachers would perform the tasks and duties previously handled by TAs. | | School Level: | Elementary |
| 17. | Reduce high school staff by four full-time equivalents (FTE) points. (Eliminating Dept. Chairs’ additional planning period for department work is included in this reduction.) | $240,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | For 2011-2012, the district reduced high school staffing by $720,000.
An FTE is the full-time equivalent of one teacher and costs approximately $60,000, including benefits.
Department Chairs currently teach 4 of 7 class periods. Of the remaining three class periods, Department Chairs have a 6th responsibility, planning period, and one planning period for department related work.
The following subject areas have Department Chairs:
Science, Mathematics, Language Arts, Social Studies, and World Language. | | Impact: | This change would reduce staffing by an additional $240,000 (four FTEs or full-time equivalents) for 2012-2013.
Department Chairs will no longer have an additional planning period for department level work and will be required to teach an additional section. Building principals will determine course offerings and reduced staffing levels based on enrollment.
| | School Level: | High |
| 18. | Reduce one-half team at the middle school level. | $150,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | Currently, students at the middle school are assigned to grade level “teams,” which allows a specific group of teachers to concentrate on the success of a reduced number of students.
Middle schools typically have 2 or 2 .5 teams per grade level. This typically results in a ratio of five teachers for 130-150 students. | | Impact: | Based on 2012-2013 enrollments, this may result in the loss of two and one-half teachers at one of the middle schools. | | School Level: | Middle |
| 19. | Revert to 2006-2007 5th grade class size levels (maximum of 28 students). | $180,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: |
The Board of Education made the decision to lower 5th grade class sizes to be the same as 4th grade, beginning with the 2007-08 school year.
This means Rockwood meets the “desirable level +3” for 4th grade class sizes, as determined by the state’s Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) guidelines, for both 4th and 5th grades:
4th grade – 22 + 3
5th grade – 22 + 3
| | Impact: |
Increasing the maximum 5th grade class size to 28 (MSIP desirable of 25+3 students) would result in an estimated reduction of three teachers district wide.
MSIP class size standards:
MSIP 5th grade minimum standard - 30 students maximum
MSIP 5th grade desirable standard – 25 students maximum | | School Level: | Elementary |
| 20. | Increase elementary class sizes in grades 1-3 by one student. | $360,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | Rockwood currently meets the MSIP “desirable level +3” student standard at first and second grade levels (20+3).
At grade three, Rockwood is at MSIP “desirable level +3” (22+3).
MSIP guidelines for grades K-2:
Minimum standard- 25
Desirable standard– 20
MSIP guidelines for grades 3-4:
Minimum standard – 27
Desirable standard – 22 | | Impact: | This would increase classroom maximums to 24 (20+4) at first and second grades.
Classroom maximums at grade three would move to 26 (22+4).
This results in the estimated reduction of 6 teachers in grades one through three district wide. | | School Level: | Elementary |
| 21. | Reduce high school staff by eight full-time equivalents (FTE) points. | $480,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | For 2011-12, the district reduced high school staffing by $720,000. This change would reduce staffing by an additional $480,000.
An FTE is the full-time equivalent of one teacher and costs approximately $60,000, including benefits. | | Impact: | This would result in a staffing reduction of an additional $480,000 for 2012-13 or the equivalent of approximately eight teachers at the high school level district wide. The staffing reductions could be teachers or support staff.
If reductions are made to teachers, this will impact classes, particularly in elective courses and Advanced Placement courses. Students will have fewer class choices.
If reductions are made to support staff, there will be an impact of increased job responsibilities and the potential decrease of job quality and customer service. | | School Level: | High |
| 22. | Increase transportation distance to 3.5 miles. | $1,500,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | The state of Missouri mandates bus transportation is provided to students who live more than 3.5 miles from their school. Currently, Rockwood transports students who live less than 3.5 miles from their school.
The district spends $40,000 a day on bus transportation. | | Impact: | There will be increased car traffic on streets and in school parking lots. | | School Level: | Elementary, Middle, High |
| 23. | Move from the current hybrid-block schedule to a traditional seven period day at the high schools. | $2,760,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | The four high schools moved to a 7-period hybrid block schedule beginning with the 2008-2009 school year to provide more opportunities for students to explore their interests and to help students meet an increased number of high school graduation requirements. Beginning with the graduating class of 2010, the number of high school graduation requirements increases from 22 to 24.
Features of the hybrid block schedule include:
- Provides increased opportunities for student academic assistance
- Divides the school day into seven equal periods
- Results in a combination of standard and blocked classes. Standard classes meet for 49 min. every day, while blocked classes meet for 49 min. one day of the week and 104 min. two days per week.
High school teachers currently teach 5 of 7 classes. One of the additional periods is individual planning every day. Individual planning time one day a week satisfies the 250 minutes a week of planning time required by the Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
The remaining period varies by day of the week:
- 6th responsibility three day a week.
- Professional Learning Community (PLC) time one day a week
| | Impact: | Teachers would teach six of seven classes. This would increase teacher case load by one section. Teachers currently see up to 150 students per day; this change will increase that number to 180 students per day. The amount of contact time between students and teachers will be negatively impacted.
With the additional teaching responsibility, some of the academic labs could potentially be eliminated.
Job embedded staff development and Professional Learning Community (PLC) collaboration time during the school day will be eliminated.
The school day would have to be extended by 7 minutes (1 min a class) in order to allow classes to be 50 minutes. This would allow teachers to have 250 minutes of planning weekly (required by DESE). | | School Level: | High |
| 24. | Move from middle school model to junior high model. | $1,730,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: |
The middle school model, used by Rockwood’s six middle schools, provides a structure that allows:
- Interdisciplinary professional learning communities to engage in frequent, timely collaboration and study of important data to support and address the unique academic, social, and emotional needs of students.
- A team of teachers who have multiple eyes and perspectives on students and have the time to discuss concerns and achievements for students.
- Opportunities for students to explore interests and talents in a variety of areas that prepares them for high school and beyond.
Currently, students at the middle school are assigned to grade level “teams,” which allows a specific group of teachers to concentrate on the success of a reduced number of students.
Middle schools typically have 2 or 2.5 teams per grade level. This typically results in a ratio of five teachers for 130-150 students.
Middle school teachers currently teach six of eight classes. They have a daily individual planning and daily team planning time. Class periods are 44 minutes. | | Impact: |
This would eliminate the middle school team model, which allows for cognitive, as well as social/emotional growth and development, whereas a junior high model focuses largely on cognitive development with few opportunities to focus on social/emotional growth.
The schedule would change from eight periods a day to seven. Teachers would teach six of seven courses.
Classes would have to be increased to 50 minutes in order to satisfy the 250 minutes a week of planning required by DESE. This would result in the reduction of one course option for students.
The number of middle schools would remain the same. Schools would continue to serve students in 6th, 7th and 8th grades.
| | School Level: | Middle |
| 25. | Total | $14,789,000.00 | More... |
| Context and Reality: | | | Impact: | | | School Level: | |
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| Pay to participate |
$400,000 |
Currently Rockwood does not charge students a participation fee for (need to determine). |
May have issues regarding playing time.
May reduce number of participants. |
| Tax Increase |
TBD |
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** Important note below regarding delivery of the K-12 Gifted Education program
A Guiding Change process for K-12 Gifted Education is being conducted. This process will help guide the district toward a shared understanding of the following considerations:
- Identify the strengths and limitations of the current program
- Determine how the district can move forward to address those limitations and areas of concern
- Conduct a review of the K-12 alignment of gifted services as students move from elementary, middle and high school
- Study alternative delivery models at each level
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