By Brittani Wheeler
<[email protected]>

With authorization from the school board, Superintendent Barbara Underwood has drafted a plan to reduce about $1.5 million of the approximately $90 million general fund district budget affecting all grade levels and the central office for the 2009-2010 school year. The proposed budget is scheduled to be presented at the board meeting Monday. The information regarding the specifics of the plan will be public at that time.

“I have been meeting with building administrators and central office to put ideas together,” Underwood said. She has already transmitted all information regarding the proposed cuts to the district teachers via the teachers’ association. The teachers received an email from the association on Jan. 14 oulining the preliminary proposal.

Underwood said, “After I put together an initial idea, I keep meeting with different groups of people that have different insights (who) are changing it. I think my proposal ‘H’ today has maybe less impact than my proposal ‘A’ that I had two weeks ago. Different people feel in different ways. I don’t think, for the most part, students are going to feel a huge difference. I hope not, but you will when you cut 2 percent of what you are doing. You can’t help (but to) impact students in some way.”

Underwood said some students may notice the budget decrease. “What we have tried to do is not eliminate programs,” she said. There is only one area in the district where we have probably greatly impacted a program. You try to pick things that have the least negative impact on students’ education because that’s the bottom line. It’s the best we can do at the moment.”

The plan is still far from finished. Underwood said the board would probably go beyond Plan H and make some adjustments. “Hopefully at the January board meeting I’ll present it to the board, but not for action. I want them to have it awhile and the public will hear about it at that point,” Underwood said. She said the public may voice concerns through the board or some people may choose to contact her directly.

“If some ideas come forward, we have to find another idea to replace it. We can’t just start chipping away at the plan. That’s why it’s changed as it has because there were some areas I just was not comfortable with a few parts of our original plan. In order to take those out, we have to put something else in because we still have to reduce the dollars. That’s why I needed to get it to the board; I could not wait any longer. I want time for everyone to think about it and help us evaluate it,” Underwood said.

“It will get better before it is finalized I think,” she added. Underwood said the final budget would probably be ready in March, maybe as early as February. If teachers need to be notified that they are going to be laid off, they will need to know by April 1.

This is not the first time this district has faced drastic cuts. “Six years ago we cut over $3 million. We really don’t have fluff,” Underwood said. “Ninety percent of our budget is spent on people. This school year we reduced about $300,000 in travels and material. We’re still talking about a million, a million and a half, on top of that.”

This district is among many who have experienced such cuts. For example, although junior Taylor Robinson said she planned to transfer from this school to Indiana Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s Home next year, she won’t be able to do that. That school will shut down in May due to a lack of funding as a result of the poor economy, according to Robinson. “I’m pretty upset,” Robinson said. “I have a lot of plans and goals for my future, and now I have to change them.”

However, Robinson said she understands why schools need to make cuts to keep the school running the way it needs to.

Principal John Williams said the cuts here would not be so drastic as to change the school’s identity. “Our goal is to make those cuts as painless as we can,” Williams said.

According to Williams, one example of a cut the school has already made is the decision to not replace Assistant Principal Kerry Hoffman, who left last semester. The other administrators have taken on the additional work.

“(Budget cutting) is a difficult process, but you just have to read the paper to know that we are not alone,” Williams said. “We’re in a tough economic time. That has an impact on all aspects of our lives, including education.” With additional reporting by Amy Flis and Cathy Chen