Kathy Dzewaltowski, observer
Special meeting:
The board held a special meeting for planning the budget. They began by reviewing the reduction in state funding that has repeatedly occurred over the past months and has caused the board to have to make budget cuts. The board had appointed a Budget Advisory Committee (BAC), which met several times to prioritize a list of 157 proposed cuts and made recommendations to the superintendent.
The board spent the majority of the meeting brainstorming additional options for cuts, revenue, and items that they need more information about. Some of the ideas the board suggested included asking families to pay for participation in sports and other activities, reducing all-day kindergarten to half-day or asking families to pay for the second half of the full day option, closing the board office one day per week in the summer and asking staff to work four 10-hour days per week, raising the Local Option Budget, reducing the number of contract days for principals, eliminating 7th and 8th grade sports, and lengthening the school day to reduce the number of calendar days and save on utilities and maintenance.
Board members will rank the the items on the list developed by the BAC and submit their rankings to the superintendent. The board will have another meeting for the budget on March 25th and plans to discuss the BAC's list, the superintendent's suggestions, and the brainstorming list the board created.
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