2003-06-04 - 10:18 p.m.
ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?
I am one of the people who do not mind standing in front of a crowd and giving a presentation, moderating a debate, or facilitating a brainstorming session. Usually. Much of the time I thrive on such activities. But I am not looking forward to tomorrow night. Tomorrow night, our school district business administrator explains to the community that we probably are looking at having to cut an additional $278,000 or so after already having cut approximately $200,000 from next year�s budget. For a small school district with a six million dollar budget, half a million dollars or so is not pocket change.
This time, we really will feel the pain. After almost ten years of revenue caps and almost as many years of at least minor budget cuts, additional cuts cannot be made without affecting children and the school programs that serve them. No child left behind? Do not let me get started. That federal program will just add to the trouble. Not much money accompanies the increase in testing costs and nothing funds the $26,000 software update compliance will require.
After our business administrator explains this bad news, she�ll show everyone where the money goes. 75% of the budget goes into salaries and benefits. The state legislature, of course, is springing all of this additional trouble on us after the date for laying off teachers so position cuts, except for vacant positions, are out of the question. We could cut a classroom teacher, a guidance counselor, or a coordinator of the gifted and talented programs, or all of them. We could cut kindergarten aides, academic support aides that help struggling children who do not qualify for special education, any of three library and computer aide positions. We could cut custodians but we only have one daytime and one evening custodian plus one half-time custodian for the two buildings in the district. We could reduce substitute teachers a little by restricting attendance at seminars aimed at staff development.
We may be able to make a small cut by having our four-year-olds spend more time on the mid-day busses. We may be able to put off some maintenance but deferred maintenance tends to come back to bite a district. Pay a few thousand to seal the blacktop now or spend several hundred thousand to replace it later. We could increase field trip fees and extra-curricular fees slightly but that will not come anywhere near making up a loss of almost half a million dollars. We could cut paper but we only use a total of $10,000 worth of paper.
But the fun and games begin after the breaking of the bad news. That time is when I get to facilitate a brainstorming session, getting the community to generate ideas for cutting money and extorting them that cutting paper will not suffice. I will get to try to keep the community forum from becoming a debate on the merits of the cut that hurts child A more as against the cut that hurts child B more. After all the brainstorming is done, I will hand out index cards and ask them, individually or in small groups, to pretend that they are the board and to make three cuts in order of preference, with at least one being a �big ticket item.� I will ask them to write down their cuts, without comment, on the front of the card. Then, to reduce frustration at not being allowed to argue that everything should be retained, I will tell them that they can make any comment they want on the back of the card and I will type it up in my report as long as it is legible.
The final fun will be tallying and reporting on the results. I think I will squeeze it in between dance recital shows, working on Friday ( my usual day off), and a few other chores.
Are we having fun yet?
LAST YEAR: The Entry That Wasn�t
TWO YEARS AGO: The Wife of My Office
Never the Twin Shall Meet
Not Being There
The Art of the Nap
The Go-Go Girl is Gone-Gone
Phoning It In
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Copyright 2006 by Ellen |
