Furloughs

So five of the nine members of the school board seem dead set on furloughing more teachers. They were able to get rid of one two years ago by eliminating some high school English classes. She got a job in another district luckily. They got rid of two last year by eliminating some elementary classes, and at least one of those found a full-time sub placement. I don't know about the other. Nevertheless, two more teachers are going to be out by eliminating the entire junior high family consumer science department. I was sitting next to one of those teachers when they called the vote. It was hard to believe.

The reason it's so hard to believe is that the state cut 3.1 million from our budget. The board agreed to $1 million out to cut it to about $2.1 million. The superintendent proposed $2.1 savings by reducing extracurricular activities by eliminating assistant sponsors and coaches, but not eliminating any programs completely. The board approved $1.7 million of those cuts and asked the superintendent to present academic programs that are not state mandated. Library, Driver's Theory, and extra-curricular budgets were cut, leaving $100,000. Left were eliminating kindergarten, 4-12 band, 4-12 orchestra, K-12 art, K-12 computers, 7-12 shop, and 7-12 home ec (family consumer science).

Again, I think extra-curricular activities should go before academic programs if we didn't have the money, but we have the money. We have an 11% surplus from last year, which is $5-6 million. We're expecting another $600,000 surplus this year. The state recommends having at least 3% and requires less than 8% to raise taxes. So we don't need to raise taxes to find that last $100,000, because we already have more than that above the cushion required by the state.

So that's the plan unless actual money and not projected money is found between now and the next meeting at the end of the month. I'm praying that it works out for the best for everyone involved, whatever that may look like.