SLE Levy to Maintain Current Budget

SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Elementary (SLE) School Board will run a general fund operating levy of $17,056 or 2.21 mills on the May 3 ballot. It would increase taxes on a $100,000 home by $2.98 and on a $200,000 home by $5.96 annually. Unless voting absentee, voters must vote at SLE between 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. on May 3.

This is the second levy run by SLE in the past seven years that has passed. One failed in 2009 by 35 votes and another was passed in 2014. The reason for the levy is declining enrollment.

“That is not an increase in the budget,” said current SLE School Board Chair Todd Johnson at the April 11 Seeley Lake Community Council meeting. “That takes us to where we are this current year [for the 2016-2017 school year].”

The current general fund budget for SLE is $1.3 million. This funds the general operations of the school including the staff and administration, specialists, special education, library, and building and grounds maintenance.

If the levy passes, “We can keep that funding if we keep the students we currently have or increase students,” said SLE Superintendent Chris Stout. “If we don’t pass the levy, then whatever the state determines [based on a three-year running average of student enrollment at $5,000 per student] will be the highest budget we will ever have again. For us it isn’t the $17,000, because we have been pretty creative in coming up with the money. It is just if we don’t do something, that number continues to drop and we can’t ever get it back again [unless student numbers increase].”

SLE had 186 students in 2013 and now in 2016 has only 166 students. Most of the general funding to run the school is from the state at $5,000 per student.

Johnson pointed out that although SLE is running with a general budget that is $100,000 less than it was three years ago, they have found a way to make it work.

“When we look around we are pretty proud of what we have been able to do in the school and the programs we have with [$100,000] less,” said Johnson. “But that is a reality that we have with declining enrollment. We are just trying to maintain what we have.”

Stout said that SLE currently has five National Board Certified teachers ranking SLE fifth in the state of the number of certified teachers. They also are the only district in the state that has a kindergarten through eighth grade International Baccalaureate® (IB) program and are accredited through Advanced Education. Many of the additional SLE programs including the outdoor programs, after school activities and the SLE Outside store are funded through grants and private donations.

“Basically anything above and beyond what you would typically see in a small, rural school is all funded through grants, donations or volunteers,” said Stout.

SLE can make up the budget lost from the state by earning money doing different things for the district. Things Stout has done in the past include working as the superintendent for Potomac School and at Swan Valley Elementary. However once the maximum budget allowed by the state drops, and a levy is not passed by the community to bring it back up to where it was, the state will never let them go back unless enrollment increases.

“The problem with taking money that we creatively come up with and substituting general funds with it, is it is not sustainable,” said Stout.

At the council meeting, the question was asked why SLE isn’t asking for more than $17,056. Stout explained that it is unconstitutional for communities to support their schools over a certain point because the state needs to provide an equitable education for all students in the state. $17,056 is the maximum amount allowed by the state that SLE could ask the voters for in a general fund levy.

Johnson highlighted that SLE’s 20-year bond will be paid off July 1, reducing 2017 taxes by nearly 18 mills or $24 on a $100,000 home and $48 annually on a home valued at $200,000. This bond was a $2.2 million bond for remodeling, building the gymnasium and the primary wing passed in 1996.

Stout added that SLE is a completely separate district from the Missoula County Public Schools and they will not receive any funding from the bond that passed last November.

“No one wants to run a levy, but we want to maintain a certain level of services to our kids and that is what we are trying to do,” said Johnson.

“The community support has allowed us to do those innovative things that keep a high level of motivation for excellence,” said SLE administrator Sally Johnson. “I think that trickles down to our kids. We have an expectation for good things for our kids.”