It may one day be known as “The Committee,” such is the influence in its grasp.

The 20 volunteers on the Lawrence school district’s budget development and program evaluation committee embarked in 2000 on an unprecedented analysis of the district’s budget.

While it took a year or so for the committee to get its feet wet, no one should underestimate the influence of this group of teachers, principals and assorted district staff. The elected school board retains responsibility for grading the prime cuts, but the committee is picking which sacred cows are ready for the stockyard.

“No other district has so much teacher input in possible cuts,” said Wayne Kruse, a committee member and elementary school teacher. “There are so many players at the table.”

Their budgetary goal is ominous: $5 million in cuts.

“The budget committee was originally developed to help the district seek greater efficiencies,” Supt. Randy Weseman said. “It’s become an important evaluation tool. That is a component that will continue on, whether we have budget surpluses or budget shortages.”

Weseman formed the committee after taking over leadership of the district from Kathleen Williams, whose two-year stint as superintendent was the shortest in the district’s history. He cut more than $400,000 in administrative staff before turning the committee’s attention to the rest of the district’s $80 million spending blueprint.

‘A healthy process’

The committee’s work this spring has taken on more urgency as members of the Kansas Legislature have indicated little desire to raise taxes to generate more money for public education.

Without an infusion of cash from the state, Weseman said, the district had to cut programs if there was to be any money for investment in top priorities, including teacher salaries and employee health insurance.

“The process is working well,” Weseman said. “We’re a little under the gun because of the state. It’s a healthy process to go through.”

So far, the committee has delved into what was once thought sacred territory. Members are considering the elimination of all-day kindergarten at five elementary schools with a large number of at-risk children.

The panel is studying the possibility of increasing the number of students in each class throughout the district. A proposal has surfaced to limit busing to the minimum required by law and starting a pay-to-ride system for the 1,800 children dropped from new shorter routes.

No area of the budget will go unexamined, including athletics, music, gifted education, nursing, guidance, libraries, security officers and vocational education.

Difficult, ‘sad job’

The task for helping decide what district programs are trimmed or eliminated is difficult, committee members say. In part, problems surface from having personal knowledge of the people associated with programs under the microscope. But an awareness that budget changes may negatively affect the lives of children also weighs heavily on them.

Jane Polcyn, an elementary school teacher who serves on the committee, said the diversity of voices on the 20-member team was beneficial to the district

Potential cuts won’t be the product of the closed-door discussions of a few people, she said. The entire process is open to the public, and district staff can follow deliberations of the committee.