BCSD lack of Title I funding

BONNERS FERRY — Boundary County School District Superintendent Jan Bayer is warning that Title I funds will no longer sustain the district in the next year.

“No employee of the district should panic, the district staff is just being practical and planning ahead,” Bayer said.

Title I is federal funding that is used to promote education to economically disadvantaged students. BCSD is a district that is considered economically disadvantaged, curriculum director Andrea Fuentes said.

Title I funding is calculated based on the number of students who receive free or reduced lunches, but since COVID-19, all students have received free lunch, Fuentes said. In past years, teachers could send home a survey for parents to fill out. However, during the pandemic, parents have not been filling out the survey which means the school doesn’t have the necessary information to know if or how many economically disadvantaged students there are in the community. Without the information, the funding will not be allocated to assist that student, Fuentes said.

Fuentes said that she wanted parents to know what the funding pays for, including salaries and more.

The district uses these funds to support half of each kindergarten teacher’s salary. It was the district's decision to fund full-day kindergarten, Fuentes said. Title I also pays for half of the teacher’s salaries at Naples Elementary and Title I paraprofessionals at the three elementary schools.

Bayer said that this year the district was allocated $9,000 less in funds than last year. Title I funds are usually carried forward and used to maintain payments and benefits. The district is then reimbursed later, said Bayer, but the district has to have the cash flow.

Unless the student is a foster child or their family is on food stamps, which is public information, the school doesn’t have the data to send in to the state for funding, Bayer said.

The superintendent said that salaries are going up in order to retain and attract staff, but funding is going down. BCSD is looking to general fund and other fund categories to reallocate to staff, Bayer said.

BCSD Business Manager Cal Bateman said that 31% of the school district's funds are federally funded. CARES and ESERS funds do have “strings attached” in the sense that they have to be spent a certain way.

CARES funds in the beginning of COVID-19 had to be spent on personal protective equipment, Fuentes said. The next round of funding is called ESERS funds and the district has until 2024 to spend them.

The district can only spend a certain amount of funds and be reimbursed at a time, Fuentes said.

Bayer said she never wanted to be a superintendent who asks for more money, but added she realizes the funds have to come from somewhere. The district is over its budget in every area: from teaching positions from the state is not enough to retain teachers.

“Unfortunately, often BCSD is a training facility for teachers,” Bayer said. “Before new teachers could afford housing prices in Boundary County and could move into the area. BCSD was enticing to prospective employees because of its four-day work week and the closeness of Schweitzer.”

Now the district has hired applicants only to have the incoming staff decline the job offer after not being able to afford housing.

There are many things the schools have to pay for, said Bayer, from curriculum to electricity the schools are not just responsible for educating students but also are responsible for their health.

BCSD is looking to use CARES and ESERS funding to make school repairs. The CARES funds are from the federal government targeted to help school districts fight COVID-19, Bayer said.

In keeping student health in mind, this means replacing the plumbing and waterline in the Mountain Hall school, said Bayer, it is a big project but will happen over time.

The superintendents said that at Naples Elementary the modules would be replaced with four classrooms. These would be easier to keep sanitary with updated HVA to moderate and regulate the air, which keeps the air cleaner, and fights COVID-19 and other diseases, Bayer said.

Updating the HVA at the middle school would also create a healthier environment. BFHS’s two boilers being replaced or updated would also help regulate the environment and maintain a healthier and safer environment for students and staff which would allow schools to be open full time.

Bayer, Fuentes and Bateman said they wanted to show the public that BCSD is fiscally responsible. The district's budget is posted publicly, even salaries, in accordance with the law. Nothing is left confidential, Fuentes said.

“If anyone has any questions, they can see their building administration or come to the district office,” Fuentes said.