Public pleads for mercy as board considers cuts
Snow outside might have melted away Monday if heart-warming appeals about the Lawrence school board’s proposed budget adjustments had been broadcast outdoors.
Dale Huffman, the father of an Lawrence High School student with cerebral palsy, spoke to the board about a proposal to cut at least $300,000 from special education. He said his daughter has made social and cognitive improvements while in the district’s special-education program.
Sondra Blessing, kindergarten teacher at East Heights School, and student Kennedy O'Dell, both at right, go over an exercise during their all-day kindergarten class. At a school board meeting Monday night budget cuts were discussed, including the possible demise of all-day kindergarten. That decision was delayed until the next board meeting.
“If any supports are taken away it could have a profound effect on our daughter,” he told the school board. “Our children’s future is in your hands.”
It’s that kind of spine-tingling reality that weighs on board members.
Board member Austin Turney told the packed house of about 100 at district headquarters it wasn’t difficult to get a sense of how it felt to carry the burden of finding $5 million in new revenue or spending cuts.
“Just step outdoors and face north,” he suggested.
During the standing-room-only meeting, the board voted to:
Eliminate the equivalent of seven teachers at secondary schools to save $305,000. This restricts student access to Latin, German, Japanese, American Sign Language and other courses.
Adjust the teacher-to-student ratio in elementary schools to cut the equivalent of seven teaching jobs for a savings of $297,000.
Postpone consideration of a proposal to eliminate all-day kindergarten at five elementary schools, a decision that touches 150 students and could save $212,000. A fee-based program may be developed to retain all-day programs.
Allocate $314,000 to buy new math textbooks and study materials for students in kindergarten through eighth-grade.
And so it went as the board received its first dose of public commentary about a $3.2 million list of possible changes designed to shore up the district’s 2002-2003 budget.
Cathy Tarr, the parent of a medically fragile child in the district, said she was concerned about a proposal to significantly reduce the number of registered nurses in elementary schools. Her daughter takes about two dozen medications daily for a kidney ailment and other problems.
“It worries me if the nursing staff is cut,” Tarr said. “A lot of people look on the nurses as Band-Aid on the knee at playground time. They do a lot more than that.”
Parents and employees representing other programs earmarked for budget cuts or subject to new fees attended the meeting but withheld comment until the board takes up those items at its next meeting, March 11. It will be at that time that the bulk of budget cuts and a bevy of new fees pay-to-ride bus system, pay-to-play sports will be on the table.
Jill Smith, the principal at Sunflower School, convinced the school board to delay a vote on a recommendation to drop all-day kindergarten at New York, Kennedy, East Heights, Riverside and Cordley schools.
Elimination of that program would cost five teachers their jobs.
The elementary principals will meet between now and the board’s next meeting to craft a list of alternative budget adjustments, Smith said.
Supt. Randy Weseman said the 2002 Legislature had not shown it was interested in raising taxes to improve state spending on public school districts. That means the district had to rely on internal budget reallocation and implementation of special fees to have money to improve employee salaries and benefits or invest in important programs.
“The debate now is what we can live without,” he said.