LPOSD mulls budget cuts
SANDPOINT — There were no easy choices in a series of cuts district superintendent Shawn Woodward recommended to the school board Wednesday afternoon.
Even though the Lake Pend Oreille School District levy passed, Woodward advised board members that they still needed to cut $738,250 from the 2014 budget. In addition, the district needs to maintain a $200,000 buffer to account for unexpected enrollment numbers and a $130,000 line item for contingency staffing.
While there is no easy way to reach those cuts, Woodward presented a budget proposal that was tailored by a budget committee led by district business manager Lisa Hals.
As with previous budget planning sessions, the nature of several revenue sources and expenses were still ambiguous and required some speculation, Woodward said.
“These are just our best guesses,” he added. “We’ll know more next week than we know this week.”
According to budget projections, a total of five and a half teaching positions will need to be eliminated, saving the district $319,760 in salary and benefit costs. In addition, eliminating an assistant administrator position will save another $43,340.
Other positions reductions included eliminating elementary bubble classroom aides at Northside and Washington elementary schools and an extended day kindergarten paraprofessional. The plan also calls for reducing the hours of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools coordinator, an approach that board member Joan Fish opposed.
“There’s just too much in the news right now about what bullying can do to students,” she said.
The other major cost-saving measure will come from program reductions. Between slashes to elementary consumables, extracurricular activities, staff contingency dollars, transportation fuel costs, technology, maintenance, and Title I and special education — both impacted by the federal sequestration — the district will save $442,700.
The proposal also contained some cost additions to the general fund, including hiring a volunteer coordinator and a new sixth-grade teacher for Sagle, which currently has 58 fifth-graders set to advance. The proposal also includes funding for the Get Real classes at Sandpoint and Clark Fork high schools. A course that teaches the basics of good decision-making in everyday situations, Woodward said the curriculum needed some revising to meet Common Core State Standards but were too beneficial to cut completely.
Between all the cuts and additions, the math boiled down to a total of $747,600 saved — a few thousand more in cuts than the $738,250 target. However, the budget won’t be official until board members pass it through a vote.