Here they go again.

After three years of often-painful negotiations that cut $5.1 million from the budget, the Lawrence school board will meet Monday to begin considering cuts for the upcoming academic year.

Many of the proposed cuts — including sports programs at the high schools and sixth-grade band and orchestra — narrowly escaped the chopping block in previous years.

“The more times you do this in consecutive years, the more painful the cuts become,” said board member Sue Morgan. “Things that you once judged to be lower on the priority scale, those are gone. We’ve already cut them. Your choices start to be more limited.”

Kathy Johnson, budget director, said with projected decreases in enrollment next year, the district would need to cut nearly $670,000 from its budget just to break even. Staff salary and insurance increases also will need to be covered in the budget, she said.

Band, nursing gone?

Administrators have identified $2 million of potential cuts, about 4 percent of their budgets, to brace for possible reductions in state aid.

Among the administrators’ proposals:

A sampling of top-priority budget reductions proposed by Lawrence district administrators:Elementary schools¢ Sixth-grade band and orchestra, $226,210¢ Half-time nurse position at Early Childhood Center, $22,621¢ One elementary nurse position, $35,676Secondary schools¢ One custodian at each high school and a half-time custodian position at each junior high, $92,268¢ Twenty-two assistant high school sports positions, $86,770¢ Golf and gymnastics programs, $59,280Special education¢ Services for home-bound students recovering from mental or physical problems, $26,000¢ Three special education positions, $135,000Administration¢ Maintenance uniforms, $20,000¢ Computer supply supervisor and secretary, $40,000¢ Purchasing director, $50,000

• Elimination of sixth-grade band and orchestra, which would save $226,210.
• Cutting a half-time or full-time nursing position at the elementary school, saving $22,621 to $35,676.
• Eliminating one custodian position at each high school, and a half position at each junior high, saving $92,268.
• Cutting high school golf and gymnastics programs, saving $59,280.
• Cutting 26 subvarsity sports positions at the high schools, which would save $66,570.
• Eliminating special education services for students at home who are recovering from a medical or psychological impairment, saving $26,000.
• Stopping purchase of maintenance uniforms for workers, saving $20,000.

The school board must notify staff by May 1 if their contracts won’t be renewed. The Legislature likely won’t allocate education funds until later in May.

Some teachers will be laid off, but the number has yet to be determined. It’s possible some of those laid off would be hired back by the district.

“Because there aren’t any decisions (by the Legislature), we have to plan for a worst-case scenario,” Johnson said. “We have to be upfront. Historically there hasn’t been a lot coming out of Topeka.”

Value decisions

Kim Bodensteiner, principal at Cordley School, said she and her colleagues weren’t in favor of making any of the cuts they’ve proposed, including the elimination of band and orchestra, which likely will draw public protest.

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“None of those things would be proposed if we didn’t have to cut budgets,” she said. “I want people to understand that.”

At the same time administrators have proposed cuts, they’ve presented a wish-list of $2.7 million worth of projects including increasing classified staff salaries, technology improvements and increased library staffing.

School board member Rich Minder said he hoped the public would provide as much input as possible during the upcoming month of budget discussions.

“Ultimately we’re going to have to make decisions that have a lot to do with values,” he said. “People in the community value one thing or value another thing. In times of scarce resources, that’s what it boils down to.”

Morgan said the process of school cuts was especially frustrating considering there’s a possibility the cuts would be restored by summer.

“It’s absolutely awful,” she said of the budgeting process. “It’s badly broken. Nobody would run a business this way, but we’re making decisions we have to make before we even know how much money we’re going to have.”