Superintendent Matt Erickson from Lincoln County School District #2 stepped into the SVI Radio studio on Tuesday, March 24 for his monthly report. Superintendent Erickson shared his thoughts on the school recalibration bill passed by the state legislature.

(0:00) The monthly report from Lincoln County School District number two superintendent (0:03) Matt Erickson on the way. Superintendent good morning how are you today? (0:07) Doing well Duke thanks for having me. (0:09) Absolutely appreciate your time once a month to come in and update our listeners what’s (0:12) happening within LCSD number two.

Right out of the gate we’ve talked a lot about the (0:16) the legislative session the last couple of months and now that everything’s (0:20) kind of wrapped up there let’s let’s start with and of course the big school recalibration bill. (0:26) You had stated leading into the session you weren’t a fan of how it looked at the beginning (0:30) a lot of changes to it though throughout the session now that it’s all done and (0:34) passed and signed what are your thoughts? (0:37) So that’s a that’s an intriguing question Duke. (0:41) So I’m still not a huge fan to be honest with you there’s a victory lap obviously (0:45) taking place for teacher salaries and depend on how you view that obviously (0:49) those of us in public ed are seeing that as a major win and it needed to happen but (0:56) with the teacher salaries they put them in a silo so (1:02) up to this point we’ve been operating under a block grant so we’ve had local control and (1:07) flexibility so we could move monies back and forth at the discretion of a local school board (1:14) and an admin team and by going to the silo on the teacher salary side a little over 46 percent (1:22) of our budget will be in that silo so it can only be used for those types of things (1:29) so an unintended consequence possibly of the silo depending on how you view it would be (1:37) if you take activities for instance extracurricular at Cokeville High (1:44) currently we’re funded at the school level based on ADM or average daily membership (1:52) and the new legislation so starting July 1 as part of recalibration we’ll be going to (1:58) district ADM so currently for every student at Cokeville High we receive $2,633 towards (2:07) extracurricular going forward at where it’s going to be funded at the district level based on (2:12) average daily membership it’ll be at $833 so you can simply see at Cokeville and then I’ll get (2:20) into Star Valley but if I’ve done the math correctly at Cokeville High for extracurricular (2:26) in the future we’ll be generating $54,000 of revenue towards that and currently we generate (2:34) $172,000 the district spends a little over $400,000 on extracurricular at Cokeville (2:42) so you can see we picked up an additional $130,000 $140,000 deficit and we with the (2:51) teacher silo now we don’t have flexibility for local control to move funds in and out of that (2:57) if that makes sense currently at Star Valley High where it’s funded at (3:04) extracurricular is funded on the school level it’s $1,066 for every student and moving forward (3:13) it would be the $833 because it goes by district and so you know we spend roughly a million dollars (3:20) a year at Star Valley High for all the extracurricular between coaching stipends to (3:25) uniforms to officials on and on and on so now it’ll generate $680,000 instead of $824,000 (3:37) so that’s just a classic example of maybe some of the unintended or intended consequences of (3:46) recalibration any way you look at it we’ve lost the vast majority of our flexibility (3:53) so just to explain the way the silo works a little bit more for those who aren’t familiar (3:57) with that term and what it is so the money is now going it has to be used for teacher salaries (4:04) am I understanding that correctly and so what does that mean then for (4:09) um I guess as far as the salary positions go does that mean it does result in a raise for teachers (4:17) or what what is it’ll you’re exactly right so the silo will result in a pretty significant (4:24) raise for teachers on the salary side and then on the benefit side it’s outside of the silo (4:31) so health insurance and retirement contributions and those types of things so (4:36) um in the near future those will be taken a hit as well we’re very fortunate right now that (4:44) um you know those that have gone before me and and ones that I’m currently working with at the (4:50) district office have a great handle on the current funding formula and model so the district’s in a (4:55) great position and our local school board’s been very very conservative and and at the same time (5:02) taking care of employees to the best of our abilities and and ultimately taking care of (5:07) students so so so the big concern then is is the extracurricular is is what it sounds like is there (5:13) any other but I just wanted to use that as an example yeah there’s average daily memberships (5:20) going from a three-year average to a two-year average which takes a hit we take a hit on the (5:25) insurance side through recalibration so now the districts will only be reimbursed for those that (5:32) are employees that are participating in the plan so that’s a 1.8 million dollar hit to our district (5:38) so yeah it’s super super complicated and and the admin team and the board (5:46) to be blunt we’re going to be kind of budgeting blind this spring because (5:50) uh we don’t even know the rules yet the rules haven’t been written as to recalibration so (5:58) anyway and then do speaking of recalibration and not just recalibration but other things that deal (6:04) with education I would really really encourage our listener your listeners out there to make (6:13) sure that we get involved in the elections this fall this our elections are obviously going to be (6:20) taken care of in the primaries which I believe is august 18th so we got to be paying attention (6:26) on the governor we got to be paying attention secretary of state and then I would strongly (6:32) encourage us if your representative is not representing what the constituents are are (6:41) asking them to or your senator then then we’ve got to we’ve got to look a different direction (6:46) and having said that you know very much appreciate Andrew Byron out of Hoback and (6:54) McKay Erickson and Senator Dan Dockstader they they communicate during the session before the (7:01) session after the session we’re in very good communication with them and they’re seeking our (7:07) input and whatnot and they have a vested interest in us and striving to do the best they can (7:13) Superintendent Matt Erickson in the studio from Lincoln County School District number two (7:17) uh anything else uh outside of recalibration you’d like to mention while we have you today (7:21) I would absolutely so um before we visit again next month it’s going to be admin assistant (7:28) appreciation day and and I have a wonderful admin assistant as well as um four or five (7:34) of them at the district office that that work with us and um you know they’re ladies of integrity and (7:40) and great work ethic and sound judgment and um have impeccable customer service skills so (7:49) I just appreciate those ladies uh specifically Mrs. Kleeman that I work with closely.

(7:55) Superintendent Matt Erickson it’s the weekday wake up this morning and the monthly report (7:59) from Lincoln County School District number two it’s all part of the weekday wake up on SVI radio.