With ISD 166’s financial adviser recommending that the district avoid dipping into its fund balance any lower than the equivalent of 20 days of operation and the school heading that direction very quickly, the school board looked at budget reduction options at its January 17, 2012 regular meeting.
Two potential budget reductions could lop a lot out of the budget, but they couldn’t both be done at the same time. The school is currently offering four instructional days not required by the state, and turning those days into teacher staff development days could save about $112,000 next year. Superintendent Beth Schwarz is discussing this possibility with the Minnesota Department of Education.
Reducing the budget even further by cutting out teacher salaries in addition to student contact for those four days is not a given, however, because that would require a change in the union contract.
Another way to save a bunch of money in one big lump would be to go to a four-day school week.
Re-engineering the budget?
The board has been considering just how big a fund balance would be acceptable given the district’s budget challenges right now. A policy set several years ago calls for a 45-day balance. School board member Leonard Sobanja suggested trying for a 25-day balance, which would require cutting $439,300 out of the annual budget. He said he is also thinking that “there’s nothing sacred” about any cuts they might consider. “I would rather take something from everybody,” he said, reducing the budget across the board, rather than “pick things and say ‘this goes’ while other things flourish.”
Board Chair Mary Sanders said she would prefer not going to a 30-day balance as has been discussed recently because those cuts would have to be “pretty severe.”
If Cook County Schools went into statutory debt, Deb White said, the state could force another district to incorporate ISD 166. “We would lose our autonomy, and we would lose our voice for our students and our community,” she said. Trying to cut more than $579,000 to get to a 30-day fund balance would be “quite disheartening,” she said.
“It’s difficult to put together this kind of list because each item comes with its own heartache,” said board member Terry Collins. The district was once large but it continues to shrink. They’ve been trying to “shave,” he said, but they will eventually need to “re-engineer.”
Four-day week a solution?
Regarding the possibility of going to a four-day week, Leonard Sobanja said it was not his first choice, but he would not be opposed if the purpose would be to save money. Deb White said they would need to consider community input.
Lake County experienced a decrease in absenteeism and truancy when they went to a four-day week, Jeanne Anderson said. With enrollment continuing to drop, “we have to look at our whole system,” she said.
They need to ask themselves “what would a really good small school district look like,” Terry Collins said, “and what would we need to do to get there?”
Leonard Sobanja wondered if the county could offer some help, such as in the health services office. When he came to Cook County in 1956, he said, there was no school nurse, and there were very few sports. They didn’t have baseball because the weather was terrible. “There are things that we could cut back on that would move us in the realm you’re talking about,” he said, “but someone’s going to get hurt.”
The board passed a motion requesting that Superintendent Schwarz come up with a list of potential cuts that would total $439,300, the equivalent of a 25-day fund balance.
In a later phone interview, Superintendent Schwarz said the state is becoming more stringent with school districts wanting to move to a four-day week. It would not let the district both go to a four-day week and reduce its current level of student contact, even if that level is above the minimum amount required.
Even if the teacher’s union went along with a reduction in its annual contract, Schwarz said, the reduction in staff development days could compromise the children’s education. She said countries that have high educational achievement have high continuing education levels for teachers.
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