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| More school cuts planned |
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| Education | |
| Written by Brian McCauley | |
| Wednesday, 27 January 2010 08:00 | |
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A group of about 30 teachers, administrators and coaches packed into the USD 368 Board of Education meeting room Monday night for a work session discussion on planned budget cuts to sports and other activities, and a message was loud and clear to all of them: Things are bad, and they could get much worse. After cutting $1 million from the district’s budget last year, USD 368 officials are facing another round of expected cuts totalling $700,000 this year. As in 2009, some of the cuts likely will come to activities. Paola High School Athletic Director Mark Lentz and Paola Middle School Principal Matt Meek were the primary speakers Monday, explaining to school board members how they plan to cut another 10 percent from their activity budgets, just as they did last year. Lentz said most of the previous cuts were to equipment, supplies and transportation costs, with students making sacrifices, such as only using one bus for much of the football season, meaning some players were unable to ride to games with their teammates. Programs also were affected, as junior-varsity cheerleading was eliminated. This year, Lentz said, four other programs may have to be reduced, but he said he was not comfortable identifying them until he has an opportunity to discuss the issue with the affected program officials. There also may be savings with the retirement of a couple coaches. Meek said he thinks he can make another 10 percent cut to the PMS activities budget this year without eliminating programs, but the budget is about as lean as he can make it. By eliminating some invitational tournaments and cutting a costly Paola-Louisburg track meet, along with saving from some possible retirements in supplemental positions, Meek said, he thinks he can make the requested reductions. Another problem USD 368 officials face, though, is that Gov. Mark Parkinson has said that if some of his proposals are not approved, he may have to suggest more school funding cuts, which Superintendent Rod Allen said could mean an additional $750,000 in money lost. That likely would mean another 10 percent would have to be cut from activity budgets, he said. At that point, administrators said, other alternatives would have to be discussed, such as eliminating coaches and programs. “I’ve been as creative as I can be,” Meek said. “If I go over 10 percent, I’m eliminating positions, coaches and programs.” Allen said a second round of cuts would push the district’s budget back to about what it was in the 1998-99 school year, when it had 71 coaches and sponsors at a salary cost of $171,706. The district currently has 96 coaches and sponsors at a cost of $285,714. Lentz said he didn’t like the idea of regressing. “I don’t want to go backward,” he said. Some ideas for creating alternative revenue sources also were discussed. Lentz suggested charging students a set amount for a pass to allow them access to activities, something he says several other schools already do. There also was discussion about a participation fee, such as in Gardner, where students must pay $40 per activity. There was an overall negative feeling about a participation fee. Administrators and board members were concerned that it would force students to limit the number of activities in which they choose to participate. No official decision could be made at the work session, but Allen said a breakdown of suggested cuts would be made available to the public as soon as they are compiled.
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