Saline board tables budget amendment, approves $60 million bond series and several bond-funded contracts

The Saline Area Schools Board of Education on Feb. 25 voted to table a proposed 2024–25 general fund budget amendment until its March 11 meeting so trustees and the finance committee could review details, but the board approved a separate resolution authorizing issuance of the 2025 school building and site bonds, series 2, not to exceed $60,000,000.

Assistant Superintendent Miranda Ousley presented the February budget amendment, explaining several state and federal revenue shifts and one-time items that complicate the district’s current-year projections. Ousley told trustees the amendment reflects changes in local receipts (+$554,000), intermediate sources (about +$2,800,000, tied to WISD pass-throughs), and a net reduction of roughly $1,500,000 on state and federal lines when one-time COVID-era funds fall away. She said a newly created ORS revenue line (referred to in the presentation as "1 47 a 4") is roughly $2,100,000 and that another ORS line was reduced by about $735,000; because parts of the ORS entries are treated on both revenue and expenditure sides, some items are effectively pass-throughs.

Ousley said special-education spending rose about $2,000,000 in FY 2023–24 and that the February amendment increases the district’s budgeted salary costs by roughly $2,500,000. "When we take out the 1 47 pass-through, it gives a truer picture to the rest of all the benefits that we pay for staff," she told trustees.

Board members asked for more time and a deeper review by the finance committee of staffing changes, the special-education cost drivers and the ORS/pension adjustments enacted in Lansing. Trustees voted unanimously, 6–0, to table adoption of the February amendment until the March 11 meeting to allow more review.

Bond resolution and bond-funded contracts The board separately adopted a resolution authorizing issuance of the 2025 school building and site bonds, series 2, not to exceed $60,000,000; that motion passed 6–0. The staff said the issuance is one of three planned series and matches timing needs for project cash flow. Troon Law Firm was identified in the packet as counsel preparing documents related to the issuance.

Several bond-funded contracts were approved during the same meeting. Votes recorded in the meeting minutes and transcript include: - Award to Barton Malow (contractor) for AV, cabling, access control and surveillance work and project oversight, total $2,908,353.15 — approved with no opposition. District staff said the work will cover classroom AV standardization and cabling at multiple schools, middle-school renovation AV/security, and Liberty Recreation Complex infrastructure and is expected to occur over two summers. - Purchase order to ANICOMPS TSG for classroom document cameras, $101,007 (approx.) — approved; staff said the cameras will be installed this summer to align with the standardization project. - Approval of Saline High School furnishing packages from multiple vendors, totaling $1,465,903.92 — approved; trustees were told an auction and donation plan will be used to dispose of retired furniture.

Why it matters: The budget amendment would adjust the district’s current-year appropriations in response to timing-driven state aid flows and program spending; trustees elected to delay adoption to give the finance committee time for a deeper review. The bond authorization and contract awards move multiple construction and technology projects forward, using voter-approved bond dollars to fund school renovations and AV/IT standardization.

What to watch: The March 11 finance committee and board review of the amendment, additional details on pension/ORS changes from the state, and implementation schedules for the bond-funded projects.

Meeting evidence: The budget presentation and Q&A by Assistant Superintendent Miranda Ousley are on the Feb. 25 meeting record; motions and roll-call results for tabling the amendment, adopting the bond resolution and approving contracts are recorded in the meeting minutes and transcript.