This year's budget reduction process (for the 2012-13 school year) starts now. The familiar and seemingly endless cycle of budget reductions will start again this month as the board will consider the Superintendent's recommended process timeline. We must be prepared to act by the Feb. 22 board meeting.
How big a deficit do we expect for next year? We are estimating about $2 million. Although this is a bit less than last year's, the last time around there were some easy savings: we took a million out of staff compensation and spent $800K from stimulus funds. So if your kid isn't in high school Calculus or one of the other classes with increased size, or a patron of some of the other services we trimmed, you might not have noticed much difference
But this year there isn't any more low hanging fruit, and it doesn't look like there will be any more help from Washington. That means the majority of the cuts are going to be noticeable reductions in services- and some of this will inevitably come out of the classroom, as that is where the great majority of money is spent. $2 million represents the compensation of more than 30 teachers.
http://www.herald-independent.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=21&ArticleID=2949
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11 comments:
" So if your kid isn't in high school Calculus or one of the other classes with increased size"
lucky me....
Peter- I know it is a lot of money, and suggestions are only nibbling around the edges, but there is some low hanging fruit...
1. End the practice of paying subs to sub for teachers so they can be in a meeting. Subs only for sick days.
2. 1 or 2 coaches per team. Period.
If fewer than 25 kids 1, if more, 2
3.Extend the walk zone and have kids pay if they want to ride the bus inside the zone.
Solicit more suggestions. They are out there.
#1 is a good idea.
#2 is sort of how it works right now. There are ratios established by the athletic department, and it's around that 25:1 ratio. But football has somewhere north of 75 kids, and I'm not sure2 coaches is even safe, much less effective in terms of what you want to accomplish with an activity like that (basketball, I'd grant you, is overstaffed -- something like 4 or 5 coaches for 45 players?)Alot of sports get by with one or two coaches -- not the ones too many people notice, but they have lots of participants: golf, tennis, cross country, swimming. And programs often use volunteer coaches -- it makes it look like there's a lot of coaches on the sideline, but some are doing it for love of the sport and supporting kids.
#3 is nice in theory, but impracticle on the ground. Bussing only works when you know you have a defined number of kids on a route, or area to pick up. You can set that bus zone a 1/2 mile from school, a mile from school or two miles from school (the most allowed under current law). But that makes it consistent. Once you start having people in one neighborhood choosing to pay to ride the bus, and others not, you still have to pick up the bus-paying kids. And you might as well pick up the non-paying kids anyway; they don't add to cost of picking up kids in neighborhood X. The only way to save money on bussing is to say --no bussing for anyone in neighborhood X. (And there are other obscure but somewhat logical bussing laws that effectively mandate bussing for certain kids if they would otherwise have to cross dangerous streets via a walk zone being extended.)
Two million dollars in this district is serious money. Two million next year, and the year after, and the year after that... . Do you see where this is going folks?
1. Cut football.
2. Cut Hockey.
Right on, Bill.
Keep going - and right now let's stay in the brainstorming mode. (There's plenty of time to shoot ideas down later.)
Well, about number 3- all I know is that I was at a dinner table the other night with someone who lives 1/8 mile inside the walk zone in McFarland and he pays 500 dollars a year to have his kid ride the bus.
Just saying.
I agree with Peter. We have all seen places where the school can save a little money- brainstorming is a good start.
And I totally agree with the sub pay thing. Not only is it ridiculous to pay for subs and teachers to go to meetings, it is also disruptive to the classes and kids. SICK PAY FOR SICK DAYS!
You could make the bus zone thing work if you require kids who live in an area with no bussing -- but want to and will pay for bussing -- to get to a bussing area. (In other words, a kid lives in Neighborhood X with no bussing, and walks to/gets a ride to Neighborhood Y with bussing, and pays for the ride on the bus.)But I don't think it would save any money to randomly pick up kids around a district the size of MG who are willing to pay; lots of folks who may live next door to the bus-paying kid won't pay. The point is -- it costs the same to the bus company/district to pick up the kid at 1234 Anonymous Drive (paying for the ride) as it does the kid at 1236 Anonymous Drive (not paying for the ride). You might as well bus all kids on Anonymous Drive, or not have any bussing there at all (and tell them they can pay for it if they find a way to an area that is bussed.)
Peter,
I doubt you intended this, but it occurs to me that you are giving the impression we can continue to absorb this magnitude of cuts with creative thinking and brainstorming. Perhaps a small percentage can gained, but the lion's share will come from increased class and/or reduced offerings. Maybe it will be sports, maybe it will be the orchestra, maybe it will be K-5 classrooms of 28-30 or maybe it will be an academic program at our high school. But these kinds of cuts will be necessary. Better to ask people what they feel is most important to leave intact, and why.
Make teachers work a full day? Every day?
End extravagant benefits and early retirement?
There has been, and will always be, resistance to becoming more efficient. The status quo is always more 'comfortable' for those benefiting from it. Unfortunately, teachers and administrators were given a wake-up call this year. Better get used to it and start working harder to produce your 'product' with greater efficiency and without harming quality. I know you can do it!
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