The Northport Board of Education this week received its first glimpse of the proposed 2008-09 school year budget, which projects a 4.1 percent decrease in overall spending.

At a work session Monday the board, with member Jeff Dyer absent, reviewed proposed revenues and expenditures for the three-fund budget.

Proposed total expenditures for next school year are $3,563,646, down 4.1 percent from $3,714,786 for 2007-08. Total revenues for 2008-09 are projected to increase less than one percent to $3,563,646, up from $3,542,452. Business manager Karen Hammersley said the district had to dip into its fund balance to cover expenses for the current school year. She is projecting a fund balance of $1,046,537 as of June 30, 2008.

Superintendent Tyrus Wessell said the district needs to stay away from using more of its fund balance next year, since about half of the funds are used to operate the district from December through the end of each school year. Wessell said the board also needs to keep in mind that the ongoing administrative law hearing involving board member Alan Woods may cost the district $280,000 for the current school year. He said the district should not tap into the other half of the projected fund balance so it can protect itself from a “worse case scenario” in the ongoing lawsuit.

The board will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget at its June 9 regular meeting starting at 7 p.m. Copies of the budget are available for public review at the school office.

The school’s main source of funding, a 13.44-mill tax on all non-homestead properties within the district, is expected to generate $2,955,216, up 5.6 percent from $2,798,752. Overall, general fund revenues will increase slightly from $3,342,956 to $3,363,956 for 2008-09.

Major changes in general fund expenditures occur in two areas: health insurance costs, and the elementary school.

Hammersley said the Michigan Education Support Service Association (MESSA) has projected an 8.79 percent per-person increase for all school employees enrolled in its health insurance plan. Hammersley said the overall cost increase for providing health insurance coverage for an employee also depends on the type of the plan in which the person is enrolled.

Expenditures for the elementary school are projected to increase 4 percent from $579,376 to $601,418. Health insurance costs jump 18 percent, from $96,942 to $114,251. Hammersley said part of the increase is due to adding a half-time position to the elementary teaching staff for an early intervention teacher in grades 1 and 2.

Wessell also said the district will have fewer special education students next year. He plans on using one of the two existing full-time special education teaching positions for the half-time early intervention position; the other half position will be spent with the elementary school special education students.

“We haven’t determined if we will be hiring someone new for the half-time positions or using existing staff,” Wessell said. There are four elementary school teachers who are qualified to teach special education.

Secondary school expenditures are expected to jump 3 percent to $730,014, with most of the increase coming again from an expected bump in health insurance costs, up 16 percent from $121,178 to $140,617. With fewer special education students expected next fall, the district has projected a 25 percent decrease in spending from $267,932 to $199,860.

Most salary increases for employee positions were 4 percent, based on the negotiated salary increase for workers in the support staff contract. Counselor Meredith Schmidt will see her salary increase 5.4 percent from $42,791 to $45,396; media aide Bonnie Shiner’s will see a 19.8 percent increase from $12,209 to $15,471 for her half-time position; Wessell’s salary is expected to jump 2.4 percent from $103,023 to to $106,114; secretary Ellen Gibson’s salary jumps 4 percent from $34,0427 to $35,409; Hammersley’s salary increases 4 percent from $54,547 to $56,729; and bus supervisor Richard Deering’s salary increases 4 percent from $5,489 to $5,709. Deering also receives a portion of the $45,904 the district has set aside for its six bus drivers and one bus aide.

The board has also earmarked $80,000 for the after-school program for 2008-09, down 12 percent from $91,000. Wessell said he is asking the Grand Traverse Band’s parent advisory group to help secure a portion of the tribe’s “2 percent” gaming fund revenue grant for a district - wide after-school program.

Northport received $33,000 in 2007-08, all of which was used for an after-school program for tribal students run out of the Strongheart Center in Peshawbestown. Wessell said he is hopeful the parent advisory group will take the district’s recommendation to use 2 percent dollars for a school-wide program that would include the tribal students. “That way we could have a K-12 after-school program that includes everyone,” he said.

If Band officials decide against granting the district’s 2 percent grant request, the school board will have to revisit the matter.

Overall general fund expenditures decrease 4.3 percent from $3,515,290 to $3,363,350.

The transportation section of the general fund is projected to increase 5.8 percent overall from $222,065 to $234,855. Hammersley said she projected a cost increase of 16 percent in transportation for expected fuel cost increases next year. The fuel portion of the transportation section goes from $30,000 to $34,800.