Ashwaubenon school board approves fund transfers

By Kevin Boneske

Staff Writer

ASHWAUBENON – Nearly $50,000 not spent in 2017-18 in the district’s five school buildings is being carried over for future use.

The Ashwaubenon school board agreed Wednesday, Nov. 14, to a local control budget carryover totaling $48,958 with $18,047 from Ashwaubenon High School, $16,472 from Cormier School and Early Learning Center, $5,387 from Valley View Elementary School, $4,960 from Parkview Middle School and $4,091 from Pioneer Elementary School.

Ashwaubenon Business Director Keith Lucius said the board allows principals to carry over unused funds from the previous school year to prevent a “use it or lose it” mentality in their buildings, and also to allow principals to plan larger projects than their local control budgets would normally allow.

“We only do carryover for the local site budgets,” Lucius said. “We don’t do any (carryover) of the district-wide budgets because they’re all working together, and a lot of our money comes from different sources and whatever we don’t spend goes back into our fund balance… It goes back into the fund balance at the end of the year because it isn’t spent, and we’re just saying they can spend it this year rather than last year.”

Lucius said the unused budgeted amounts being carried over to this school year are being added to the funds allocated for 2018-19.

“We have a per-student formula that funds this account, a set amount per student – it varies by the level from the elementary to the middle to the high school – so based on their head count, they get a certain amount, and this would be added to that, because they didn’t spend it last year,” Lucius said.

District staffing

In other action, the board approved an early retirement request for Roger Francois, high school math teacher, effective the end of the 2018-19 school year.

Francois, who will have been employed full-time by the district for 16 years, qualifies for early retirement without meeting the years of service requirement, but on a prorated basis.

Board members also approved 23 co-curricular contracts with 22 of them ranging from $200-$550, and the largest amount, $2,000, going to Charles Delfosse to be an assistant hockey coach at the high school.

Election clerk

The board has designated Jennifer Bower, secretary to the superintendent and school board, as school district clerk for the upcoming board elections next spring.

The terms of two of the five elected board members, Paul Trondson and Michelle Garrigan, expire next April.