District budget response

I've just heard back from Ron Cowan, assistant superintendent, regarding my budget questions. He reiterated much of the district's stance:

* The federal stimulus money could only be spent on three areas as outlined in the budget, and that without that money, the district would have been short nearly $5 million.

* Nearly every item on the budget cut list was made that could be made, reducing spending by $2.5 million.

* When the budget cut list was presented to the board, a letter from the superintendent accompanied it, stating that the order of items on the list could change. That is in an older version of the budget cut list, here's the link:

Adopted Budget Savings Plan

I asked him why items were put on the list and approved by the board, to be taken off because they couldn't be used to trim costs this year. His answer was that they were good ideas that would be considered in the future, and that keeping them on the list acknowledged that.

He felt the process used was a good one; I disagree. I don't think you can make very good decisions about what to cut out of a budget, when mixed in are items that have no relevance to this year. Those are the items that should be on the future consideration list.

I also believe that cutting costs at each individual school, with families and schools working together, would have been a better method, rather than pitting schools and programs against one another for the same dollar.

He also clarified the discrepency regarding number of students: The larger number, 10,400, refers to a head count ... some students don't attend full time, so the full-time equivalent number of students is in the 9,800 range.

It'll be interesting to hear what the school board has to say when they review the budget Wednesday night.

I also heard back from Nancy Merry at the district office, who confirmed the following meetings:

June 17 at 7 p.m. is the Board Study Session on the budget.

June 25 is the Board regular meeting. Officially, the meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. and will go immediately into executive session without any other business occurring. The regular Board meeting follows at 7:30 p.m.

July 16 at 11:30 a.m. the Board will meet in retreat followed by the regular Board meeting at 5:30 p.m.