The Lawrence school board Tuesday adopted $4.7 million in fee increases and spending cuts in anticipation the state’s economic troubles will prompt the Kansas Legislature to drain financing from public school districts.

After four hours of discussion, the seven members of the board unanimously approved a list of $2.8 million in spending reductions and revenue enhancements. These changes, packaged as Phase I, will be executed, in part, to free up money for teacher pay raises and rising operating costs. The board’s Phase II list contains $1.9 million in prioritized cuts and fees that will be enacted if necessary.

Sue Morgan, the board’s president, said the school board didn’t corner the market on wisdom about reshaping the district’s budget. The result won’t be perfect, she said, but it will be done with the best interests of students at heart.

“None of us are enjoying this or feeling good about it,” she said.

Supt. Randy Weseman said the board had maneuvered close enough to his $5 million goal that the district should be able to weather whatever the 2002 Legislature decides in terms of public education funding.

“I think we have a plan to deal with what the state throws at us,” he said.

The board’s session culminated seven months of deliberations on the budget that was highlighted by impassioned lobbying campaigns by students, teachers and parents to preserve programs and jobs they thought essential. On Monday, the board listened to several hours of public comment on the budget.

In a few instances, those pleas were answered. For example, the board decided to end all consideration of eliminating American Sign Language classes at the high schools as well as a recommendation to delete the entire sixth-grade band and orchestra program.

Board member Leni Salkind said she would prefer to make hundreds of students walk or ride city buses to school than vote to drop introductory instrumental music programs at elementary schools.

“It would help the city if the kids used the buses,” she said. “I used buses when I was little.”

Cutting deep

But in dozens of cases, the board agreed to 2002-2003 budget adjustments in Phase I that will change the way Lawrence schools do business. Gone is the equivalent of 45 full-time jobs, including about 20 in special education; all-day kindergarten; eighth- and ninth-grade “B” athletics teams; and junior high school cheerleading.

Board member Linda Robinson said she was mystified a majority of the board thought it necessary to drop cheerleading at junior highs instead of making it a pay-to-participate activity as they did at the high schools. Each of the four junior highs has about 35 cheerleaders. The cut saves $29,500.

“I don’t know how you isolate one thing out of the whole picture,” Robinson said.

Also in Phase I, district funding for the WRAP student-intervention operation was cut in half to $70,000, while the board asked the district’s nurses to figure out how to do with $60,000 less next year.

“I do appreciate the fact they’re willing to put it in our hands,” said Katy Buck, who coordinates nursing services in the district.

Increasing fees

The board’s cash register rang up an unprecedented package of Phase I fee increases designed to generate $530,000. A pay-to-ride bus system that charges all students living closer than 2.5 miles from school will be introduced in August. A pay-to-participate sports and extracurricular activities fee will also kick in, but children in low-income families could apply for a waiver.

There are new or increased fees for textbooks, field trips, technology, instructional materials and enrollment. Board member Scott Morgan convinced his colleagues to cut in half the financial impact of these five fees by shifting about $400,000 of recommended increases to Phase II.

“A lot of these fees were put in without respect to the cumulative effect on families,” Scott Morgan said.

Each board member ranked 36 Phase II cuts so the seven lists could be combined into a single priority list. At or near the top of the Phase II list was the second half of the five academic fees.

Mothball proposal

The prospect of additional requests to trim expenditures or pile on fees prompted board member Mary Loveland to raise the idea of temporarily shutting down a school to save cash.

“You could mothball a building for a year,” Loveland said.

There is excess capacity at the district’s 19 elementary schools. It’s estimated boarding up Riverside School, which recently sustained about $100,000 in damage when struck by a vehicle, could save the district more than $250,000.

The board already agreed to close Grant School in May due to dwindling enrollment, but members also consented to postpone action on additional consolidation until completion of a school-by-school facilities study by consultants. The study is due this summer.

Weseman said the board’s pledge to withhold judgment until after receiving the study must be honored.

“We need to do what we say we’re going to do,” he said.