MBS FY19 budget approved, facility renovations reviewed

Fiscal year 2018 wraps up in October, and in preparation members of the Board of Education approved the budget for fiscal year 2019 at the monthly meeting on Sept. 17.

Chief School Financial Officer Kari Austin presented the highlights of the FY19 budget, which were initially discussed at a budget hearing on Sept. 4.

Austin said the projected ending fund balance for FY18 is $14.8 million, but that does not reflect other grants and funding the school system has recently received or will receive in the upcoming weeks and some projects that were budgeted for the year but won’t be done until this fall.

“We’re ending fiscal year ’18 really better than our budgeted projections,” she said, adding that she expects the ending fund balance to be “over the 15 million-mark.”

There is also an approximate $500,000 budgeted in the capital projects funds for work within the facilities as well as the 2.5 percent state-mandated raises as well as the increases for the step raises for those who are eligible. As in past years, Mountain Brook Schools has designated a large portion of their general fund expenditures — 83 percent — to personnel costs. 

Austin estimated the ending fund balance for FY19 to be around $14.5 million.

Facilities Director Tommy Prewitt also took time to review renovations and work that was completed at the schools over the summer. Work included:

• New flooring in Spartan Arena
• New Ranger Park playground at Brookwood Forest Elementary, funded by the PTO
• Additional security measures at all schools, including a buzz-in system and video surveillance, as well as security gates at the high school
• New playground and field use signs for schools
• Renovated kitchen and sensory room at Mountain Brook Junior High for the special education suite
• Color-coded corridors at MBJH, funded by the PTO
• New carpet in four new classrooms at Mountain Brook Elementary
• Renovations to the cafeteria at Mountain Brook High School, funded by the PTO

Also during the meeting, board members:

• Approved the minutes of the last meeting.
• Heard from Representatives David Faulkner and Jim Carns, who represent a large part of the city. Faulkner also presented a check for $5,000 to Superintendent Dicky Barlow for MBS. Both are running for re-election this November.
• Recognized the 2018-19 PTO Council and the 2018 Institute Day Team.
• Heard about this year’s New Teacher Orientation Week.
• Recognized Baynes Autrey, Holly Brown, Denson Camp, Ben Fu, Katelyn McInerney and Anna Belle Rooney as PSAT National Merit Semifinalists.
• Heard the latest financial statements for MBS.
• Reviewed this year’s professional learning that took place. In total, educators spent more than 11,000 hours in professional development over the summer.
• Reviewed the latest enrollment numbers. Barlow stated MBS has 4,323 students enrolled this year, which is still lower than the highest year, 2010-11, which had 4,505 students. He said the numbers are slightly higher than last year, but when looking at enrollment across the schools he expects the enrollment to stay in the range of 4,300-4,500 in the upcoming years. Barlow said too that he did not see anything “to cause concern or tell us we need to build a new school.”
• Approved updates to Policy I-6 for religion and religious expression, which had not been reviewed since 1992. The policy does not have any major changes but updates the language to today’s standard.
• Gave the annual superintendent’s evaluation, during which BOE president Elizabeth Dunn said the board found Superintendent Dicky Barlow “to be an excellent superintendent and in the evaluation we noted he has performed well and excellent in all the categories.”
• Tabled revisions suggested to policy J-28H regarding student drug testing for one month to allow for community input. Director of Student Services Amanda Hood said the proposed revisions would change the method of sample collection from a urine sample to oral saliva testing, which would be less intrusive and less time-consuming, she said. 
• Approved recommendations to personnel and the removal or disposal of surplus materials.

The next BOE meeting will take place on Oct. 14 at 3:30 p.m. at Mountain Brook Junior High.