Budget Reductions

Well this past week got to see the results from the surveys that the administration and board took. There were 24 items that both the administration and board ranked within 5 spots of each other. I think that is outstanding, considering the board has no expertise on the impact on learning any of these options will have. There were 13 items that we have varying opinions on. Additionally, the administration ranked the proposed cut in Athletics and the consolidation of Maywood and Winnequah, while the board did not. Some board members did not feel they had enough information on either topic to rank them.

We got to see the preliminary budget reductions from the administration. We also got the list of items that were not on the preliminary list. Iwill say that it was about what I expected. The preliminary reductions closely followed the administration survey rankings. The noticeable exceptions are the consolidation of Maywood/Winnequah, eliminate the Practice Bus, Increase grade 7&8 workload from 4 to 5 classes/day for core academic teachers and eliminate 4th & 5th grade strings.

After having even more time to review these documents (the survey results & reduction lists) I am even more convinced that the results of the administration surveys carry far greater weight than that of the board. While we agreed on many of these items my opinion is that their expertise on educational impact needs to be judged accordingly. The administration knows what it takes to run a classroom, a school and a district far better than I do. I can only offer insight, observations, recommendations and guidance to make this district the best learning environment possible given the resources we have.

However, I will not blindly follow the administration recommendations when the tough decisions have to be made. Which I hope will be made sooner than later for the sake of the district.