BUTLER TWP — Consolidating buildings in the Butler School District will have financial benefits while improving education for students, but it won’t solve all of the financial issues the district has been facing in recent years.

That’s what district administrators say.

The school board in May approved the closing of five of the district’s 11 elementary schools this month: Broad Street, Center Avenue, Clearfield, Meridian and Oakland. Also, grades at both the primary and secondary levels will be reconfigured, and the Center Avenue building will be repurposed into an alternative and special needs school.

The plan is estimated to save the district $1.5 million from its $100.7 million budget.

Superintendent Dale Lumley said, “I’ve mentioned from the outset that closing these buildings is not going to be the be all and end all of the financial situation. There are escalating health costs, retirement costs.”

Increasing costs

For example, the district’s contribution to the Public School Employees’ Retirement System has risen exponentially in the past five years. It went from $932,000 in the 2009-10 school year to $3.9 million this school year.

Those contributions are expected to increase even more for the next several years. The district cost is estimated to hit $6.4 million by the 2018-19 school year.

Pension funding “is a big factor that can’t be overlooked,” said Debbie Brandstetter, business manager.

Health care expenses also have eaten up more of the budget in recent years, going from $9.9 million in the 2009-10 school year to $11.8 million this school year.

On the revenue side, the district will lose about $500,000 next school year from commercial tax appeals, which include AK Steel, Target, Home Depot, Clearview Mall and others that had their properties reassessed this year.

Overall, the biggest expenses for the district are: Salaries at $43.3 million; employee benefits at $27.8 million; debt service at $8.3 million; student transportation at $6 million; and cyber school and alternative school tuition for students in the district at $5.6 million.

Brandstetter said much of the debt service comes from so many schools that needed to be renovated over the years. But with fewer buildings in the future, district officials hope to issue fewer bonds to pay for renovation work.

Increasing efficiency

The district has made efforts to reduce costs to increase efficiency.

There will be 15 fewer elementary school teachers this fall. Eleven of those were eliminated through retirements, and four staff positions have been furloughed.

“People don’t realize 15 positions is $1 million in savings,” Lumley said.

In the 11 elementary schools, there were class sizes that ranged from 12 students to 30 students. The consolidation plan will even out class sizes, with 20 students in each classroom in the primary grades and about 25 students in the upper elementary classrooms.

“When you look at consolidation, that’s where the savings comes from, staffing,” Lumley said. “There are utilities and costs associated with the buildings, but it’s really a staffing issue.”

But at the same time, some staffing positions were added back into the budget, which includes several positions that were cut in recent years.

Lumley said the district has a $3.2 million savings in staffing alone with the plan, but reinvesting money back for other staff caused a decrease in that overall savings.

Reinvestments made

Several staff additions will be for Center Avenue School, which will become a special needs and alternative school. Six special education teachers, six paraprofessionals, a school nurse, a school psychologist and a guidance counselor will be added there.

The school is considered an investment of sorts since it also will bring more money back to the district through students who are enrolled at MIU IV-run Clarence Brown or other alternative schools who return to Butler.

At all of the other buildings next school year, there will be two additional librarians, one school nurse, one guidance counselor, one technology education teacher, one gym teacher and one English language teacher added.

Aligning with improved electives, elementary students will have longer music, art, gym and library classes, going from 30 to 35 minutes. Computer classes at elementary schools will be reintroduced. And libraries will be open every day at elementary schools, instead of one or two days a week like they have been.

Mary Wolf, assistant superintendent of elementary education, said, “These things were taken away and reduced instructional time given to students because of finances. That’s one of the things that we pledged — to make sure that we bring back programs that were taken away as a result of financial hardship.

“We feel with this plan we were able to bring those staffing positions back to the elementary level. And we’re very excited about it.”

There also will be more than $2 million spent on technological improvements in all of the schools during the next two years.

That began June 15 when the school board approved spending more than $853,000 in desktop computers, laptop computers and smart Promethean white boards. This is the first round of purchases that eventually will total $1.4 million in lease-purchased technological materials.

At the secondary level, three teachers were furloughed, but that would have happened regardless of whether a consolidation plan was passed or not, Lumley said.

Options limit savings

While some critics of the building consolidation plan have suggested closing the junior high and closing fewer elementary schools as an alternative plan, there wouldn’t be the same kind of savings to do that, Lumley said.

“Closing the junior high doesn’t reduce staffing because those secondary teachers are subject matter teachers and there is a different kind of formula you use for that,” he said.

“We looked at the effort to close the junior high and some of the elementary buildings, and it didn’t have the same cost savings, plus we had crowded elementary buildings in K through six.”

If the new school board, which takes office in December, would approve an alternative plan, the district could have to begin adding staff members back onto the payroll, which would reduce the overall savings, Lumley said.

While major changes are ahead, the consolidation isn’t a blanket solution for the district’s ongoing financial woes.

“It helps, but it’s not going to solve all of the financial problems,” Lumley said.