The Mexico School District does not yet know what the financial impact will be to the district amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this, the board of education held a special work session Wednesday night to look at budget considerations.

Superintendent Zach Templeton does not have concerns over the district’s receipt of federal revenue. He does not expect the amount to change.

“In some scenarios, we are going to get more money because of the federal government trying to pump money into the economy,” he said.

He does have concerns, however, over local and state revenue. There will be efforts to maintain the state’s foundation formula, Templeton said, which is what determines how much funding school districts get from the state. That likely will be the last thing that would see any cuts, he said.

The district’s assessed value already is reported, so locally the concern will be over if people are able to pay their property tax bills on time. Sales tax revenue likely will take the biggest hit, though, Templeton said.

The 2020-21 budget did include a $1 million payment for the new turf fields, but that was removed and replaced with a $160,000 lease payment, instead. The district has saved other money through the shutdown.

Before the shutdown, the district had expected to pay some expenditures out of reserves upward of $500,000. Now, the district has saved upward of $800,000 due to the shutdown, which means the district could operate in the next year on a surplus budget.

“These are all projections and estimates,” Templeton said. “We’re not in a bad position at all, financially.”

A major discussion point was teacher salary. Certified teachers already have received their 2020-21 contracts, but they did not include the typical step raise. The contracts included a caveat that the school board would look at teacher salary and make a decision at Wednesday’s meeting.

The board is considering to increase step raises for teachers based on years of service and degree level. There also were considerations for increasing the base pay rate. Even with changes to teacher pay, the district expects to end the 2020-21 year with a surplus budget.

Board president Dustin Pascoe made a motion to conduct the step raise increase, and to add $1,000 to the base pay. Teachers with a bachelor’s degree will have a step raise of $500 for years one through 10, $515 for years 11-20 and $530 for years 21-30. Teachers with master’s degrees will have step raises of $575 in the first 10 years, $600 in the second 10 years and $626 in the third 10 years. Specialist degrees will start at $660, then increase to $690 and $720 based on years of service.

The salary increase was approved in a 6-1 vote, with board member Brian Rowe voting against. He was concerned over the potential budget impact in future years and how it would affect budget reserves.

In other business:

• Summer school activities are mostly canceled. It just wasn’t in the cards for June, Templeton said. Students seeking credit recovery at the high school still will have an opportunity to do so through online learning. Personal finance and health classes also will take place online. The district may do a jump start type summer program in late July, early August.
• The Mexico Area Family YMCA has requested to use school facilities to facilitate its child care program over the summer. The district will have to work out details for cleaning, and other use details. The facility use fee will be waived. A final decision will come later this month at the regular school board meeting.