It appears that as many as 
three Wayland school district employees this academic year will be offering services on a contractual basis to other educational entities.
Finance Director Bill Melching and Accounting Supervisor Michael Tanksley will work for the Johannesburg-Lewiston school district in northeastern Michigan for the equivalent of three days every two weeks and Amy Syers, accounting clerk, will continue to work for one day for the Allegan Area Educational Services Agency.
The move to contract out business and business management services, Superintendent Norm Taylor said, will bring in about $27,000 to $28,000 to Wayland as a result. It would mean more work for Melching, but he said he is up to the task.
“I assure you the job (in the business department at Wayland) will continue to be done,” Melching told the Board of Education Monday night. “I understand this is a fairly new concept, but we’ve been talking about excess capacity in the business office.”
Melching said Johannesburg-Lewiston will pay Wayland $44,000 for the contracted business services. Both he and Tanksley, who is an hourly employee, stand to make more money, but it results in more funds in Wayland’s coffers and it eliminates the need to lay off people in the local schools’ business office.
Melching also promised that he and Tanksley will not charge Wayland for any travel time or mileage. Tanksley probably will be able to do the vast majority of the job via the Internet.
Taylor said Johannesburg-Lewiston is a Class D school district with a budget of about $7 million. Wayland has a budget of about $29 million.
Melching said this move also would better enable Tanksley to ease into the finance director’s job because he probably will retire in two to three years.
“Michael will handle their budget controls so they can get a better handle on expenditures,” Melching said.
Meanwhile, nothing really will change for Syers, who has been working two half days each week for the AAESA during the past year. The AAESA pays Wayland $12,000 per year and Syers is given a stipend of about $100 per week.
“This allows us to keep a really good staff,” Melching said to board members. “It’s a way to hang on to expertise (rather than reduce or eliminate it). We’re at the point in the business office where we need more work to fill up a 40-hour work week.”
“This may be the wave of the future,” Taylor chimed in. “We’re already sharing technology services and food services.”
The Johannesburg-Lewiston school board must approve the deal year and Wayland’s board must vote to authorize signing the contract. But it looks like it’s going to happen.
PHOTO: Bill Melching