BOE: Programs, sports may see cuts
By RYAN CHRISTNER
Those hoping Monday night's Hays USD 489 Board of Education meeting would answer questions regarding where district reductions to address declining funding will come from will have to wait a little while longer.
After spending the bulk of the two-hour meeting debating the proper course of action, board members -- some begrudgingly -- approved a plan to schedule work sessions to take a closer look at all non-state or federally mandated elective and extra-curricular programs and activities.
"I think our No. 1 concern needs to be the academic progress of our students," Judy Nixon said. "We have a lot of non-academic programs and, as an educator, I'm sorry, but my No. 1 priority is academic programs. If we have to look at making cuts, we should look at making cuts in non-academic programs first."
Discussion of possible reductions in areas throughout the district was in response to what appeared to be the board's reluctance to vote on eliminating the summer school program at the end of the school year, despite a recommendation by administration that included that cut as one of the items to make up for a $300,000 deficit in the budget for fiscal year 2010.
Eliminating summer school, Nixon said, would put at-risk students even more at risk and negatively would affect state assessment scores.
"That's right, but I'm telling you you don't have any choice," Superintendent Fred Kaufman said in response. "Right now, I don't see how we can fund summer school."
Math, reading and, to an extent, science classes are federally mandated through the No Child Left Behind Act, and there are several other areas of the curriculum that are necessary in order for the district to continue to receive funding.
Anything else will be brought to the board for consideration when it meets in the upcoming work sessions.
Some of the items to be discussed include sports, music, arts and theater programs, as well as district library and counselor services.
"These education ideas are the forefront of what we're trying to do here, and to accomplish that, we need to put everything on the table," Greg Schwartz said.
One other possible source that could be reduced in order to meet the budget shortfall are supplemental contracts for coaches and extended personnel.
Kaufman said the district could save approximately $37,000 if those contracts were reduced by 10 percent.
"I'm not suggesting that we eliminate any programs," he said. "I think we can do that by eliminating the number of assistants."
That would make up the bulk of the $60,000 cost of summer school, if that program was left afloat.
"When we're looking at budget cuts, from my perspective, these are some good areas to look at because they're extras," Schwartz said of the contracts.
During the work sessions, board members are expected to hear from individual school administrators who, with the help of district administration, will create prioritized lists of their programs that are not mandated by either the state or the federal government.
In other business, the board passed a resolution to continue a no-fund warrant that would allow the district to borrow $300,000 to purchase new math and reading textbooks and pay the money back by levying a tax during the next three years.
The district still is under the effects of a previous no-fund warrant, approved in 2004, so residents would not see a rise in their property taxes from the no-fund warrant. The only change would have been if the measure was rejected, in which case the district mill levy would have been reduced by about 0.351 mills, or approximately $4 per year on a $100,000 home, Assistant Superintendent of Finance Richard Cain said.
"It won't be any better next year, and probably not the year after," Kaufman said. "If we don't do it, we're just into that cycle where all of a sudden we're using old materials.
"This is something we can do to keep ourselves current."
The board also approved an architectural contract for the new Hays High School fitness and strength training facility, which is being paid for entirely through private donations.