District officials mull budget cuts

SANDPOINT - School district trustees are expected to take one last look Tuesday at proposed budget cuts for the 2008-'09 school year before taking a formal vote.

Lake Pend Oreille School District foresees eliminating 33 positions ranging from teachers to librarians and counselors beginning July 1. Almost half of the positions proposed for elimination are those held by teachers at the high school, middle school and elementary grade levels.

Nine teachers have announced they plan to retire prior to the upcoming school year, according to Supt. Dick Cvitanich. That could protect some junior teaching positions, but those retirements still will not eliminate the need to make staffing cuts.

The cuts are planned because of an anticipated revenue decline that could be as high as $2.2 million. The decline is related to several factors, including a decrease in student enrollment for the current school year and a possible loss of federal forest and education funding.

The district also experienced a decline in student enrollment during the 2006-'07 school year, but was granted one-time only protection status by the state for the current school budget year. That status meant the district received most of the state endowment funds budgeted based upon projected enrollment.

Now that one-time deal is off the books and the district cannot look to a supplemental levy to make up the shortfall since one already is on the books.

LPOSD voters approved a two-year supplemental levy a year ago that covered everything from coaching salaries and athletic programming to the replacement of kitchen equipment at various schools.

The state's endowment fund formula has not been revamped since the mid-1990s.

Since then school districts across the state have had to increasingly rely on supplemental levies to meet the needs of a society that now relies heavily on computers and testing prompted by the No Child Left Behind Act.

LPOSD voters have not passed a plant facilities levy in 20 years and a bond since the 1950s. A $21 million plant facilities levy to fix buildings, purchased 11 new school buses and add classrooms at Sagle and Kootenai schools will appear on the ballot May 20.

The budget workshop is set for 6:30 p.m. at Sandpoint High School in math teacher Tom Albertson's classroom.

If a decision is not made during the workshop, a decision is expected during the trustees' regular meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. March 25 at Sagle Elementary School.