Proposal To Reduce Our FY'13 Budget

We face a very difficult challenge to reduce our budget by as much as $1.8M for the coming school year. When over 75% of the budget is directed toward programs and services, it is virtually impossible to make a reduction of that size and not impact one or both. At its meeting on Monday, February 27th, the school board was presented with a proposal that would reach that targeted amount. The proposal called for a reduction in the workforce. It also contained a set of recommendations related to shifting the use of funds from one budget 'source' to another. Public school finance is, unfortunately, a fairly complex system that defines and limits the use of funds we receive from the state. For example, technology, desks and textbooks typically are funded out of our 'capital' fund. We receive these funds from the state and cannot use them for things such as staffing. On the other hand, we receive special funds for staff development which are intended to be devoted to training. Because the legislature recognized the difficult economic times, schools are now allowed to use those funds in other areas of the budget. This is something that the proposal is recommending that we do as a means of reducing the number of faculty and staff layoffs. Finally, the proposal recommends the reduction, for one year only, in the number of days our students are in school. The intention of this recommendation is to provide our faculty with an opportunity to be fully trained and become proficient in programs such as STEM, Inquiry, Leadership and in alternative classroom instruction such as 'flip' classrooms, 'hybrid' instruction and in the use of teaching tools such as formative assessments and differentiated instruction. Moving forward, even in the most challenging economic times, is important.