If one more person gets up and tells me that what is needed is for us to think outside the box, I�ll scream. Well, actually, I won�t scream, not out loud, but my insides will churn. The popular philosophy that there is always a way if you are just creative enough really goes only so far. Yes, sometimes we make assumptions that prevent us from seeing better solutions but sometimes we don�t see better solutions because we must pick the best of several bad solutions. So it is with slashing a school budget.

I�ll all in favor of creative solutions. This year is the first year that budget cuts will directly affect core programming. If anyone looks carefully, they�d notice that it has taken our district far longer to get there than the districts around us even though we have had declining enrollment for as many years as some of those other districts. The reason is creativity. But when the cause of the problem is outside forces that you do not control, creativity will get you only so far. The Never-neverland boys in the movie �Hook� could sustain their bodies on food that they could imagine. Real boys can�t.

We have cut support staff, custodians, and supplies. We have put off some minor repairs�although not the kind that grow into bigger repairs. We have combined some job functions. We have done some counter-intuitive things such as paying the high school some money not to pull out of the bus consortium. (The payment was less than the costs would be if the high school pulled out.)

We have had some luck. Never discount the benefits of luck. We can cut two aides that are one-to-one special education aides because the children that need them will graduate from our district but no one should kid themselves. We could be forced to add one back tomorrow if another high-needs special education kid moves into the district before school starts next year. It is not creativity that allowed us to cut a classroom teacher last year without raising class size. It is luck. We had that rare luck that the numbers fell so that we could simply get by with one less teacher. This year we might be able to re-arrange the schedule some and cut a teacher or two. By next year, class size likely will go up.

The people who keep telling us to think outside the box belong to two categories. The first, the malevolent, are the one who keep taking the money away. For them �think outside the box� is a political throw-the-blame game. By sleight of hand, the problem is not that they are cutting funding (even while adding more mandatory programs.) but that we are not sufficiently creative.

The second group are in denial. For them, �think outside the box� means �it really isn�t so bad.� Normally, I believe a little denial can be a good thing. But it isn�t good when it keeps people from complaining to the very people who could do something about the situation.

So, please don�t tell me to think outside the box. I might just tell you what you can do with that box.

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