Cammie Braden has seen positive changes in her eighth-grade son since he started playing trumpet two years ago.

He is more socially active, enjoys school more and is getting better grades.

Braden said she wants her fourth-grade son to have the same opportunities when he hits sixth grade.

But that might not be possible. The sixth-grade band and orchestra program is one of many programs the Lawrence school board will consider eliminating during its meeting Monday.

Board members are looking to cut the district’s budget enough to offset a decrease in funding caused by declining enrollment and higher transportation and insurance costs. They also will consider adding teachers to keep lower class sizes, and increasing classified staff salaries.

Parents such as Braden almost certainly will fill the board’s meeting room to advocate protecting programs that affect their children.

“They’ve got to figure out how to not cut these programs,” Braden said. “If you want the school district to survive, you can’t get rid of programs that everybody knows are essential.”

Budget additions

The problem, district officials say, is finding areas to cut after reducing programs $5.1 million over the past three years to counteract declining enrollment and increasing costs.

Drew Braden, 13, a student in the Central Junior High Mustang Band, practices his trumpet at home during spring break. His parents are hoping the school district will not have to drop band programs because of budget cuts.

“This is the toughest budget year since I’ve been on the board,” said Leni Salkind, who has been a member since 1997. “We’ve been through the list of programs so many times, now we’re down to things we’ve preserved for several years. While we said it was painful before, it wasn’t like this year. We’re down to the bare bones. Everything on this list is going to hurt some kid in the district.”

Enrollment projections show the Lawrence district likely will lose $669,120 in state aid next year. Meanwhile, insurance and transportation costs are expected to increase $450,000.

The district typically figures its teacher staffing requirements based on a base ratio of 23.8 students per class. But in recent years, the school board has hired additional teachers to keep class sizes lower.

The budget committee has recommended hiring 11 teachers over ratio this year at a cost of $497,662.

The committee also recommended spending $133,000 to increase classified staff salaries and $63,000 to renew a contract for e-mail service, which wasn’t in last year’s budget because the 2002 contract spanned two years.

Painful cuts

If the school board goes along with the recommendations, members will need to cut $740,000 from existing programs.

The list recommended by the budget committee included reallocation of special education money to the general fund and elimination of several districtwide administrator positions and 26 sub-varsity athletic coaching jobs. The committee also told school board members they should consider cutting areas that don’t result in staff decreases, such as reductions in library materials and staff development programs.

Other cuts, including the sixth-grade band and orchestra program and the high school gymnastics and golf teams, appear to be on the bubble.

Salkind said she thought band and orchestra should be given a hard look by the board because eliminating them would save the district $226,210, much more than most of the other proposed cuts.

“It’s a lot of money,” she said. “If we’re looking for another $226,000 in cuts, we’re taking out huge numbers of things.”

Board member Rich Minder said he thought the board wouldn’t stray far from the budget committee’s recommendations.

“I don’t think we’re miles apart,” he said. “For the most part, I think we’re thinking along the same lines.”

Not final

The board will need to make decisions Monday about programs affecting staff because of state-mandated deadlines for notifying employees if their contracts are not being renewed. But with the Legislature still wrangling over school finance, it’s possible some of the cut areas could be reinstated later this spring.

Teacher salary increases also are yet to be determined. Those are determined through a separate process through negotiations with the Lawrence Education Assn.

But board president Austin Turney said the amount board members cut from the budget Monday would determine how much could be left for salary increases. The average Lawrence teacher salary is $39,714.

“With salary increases, it’s the elephant in the room,” he said. “You can’t talk about it because it has to go through negotiations. But the decisions we make Monday night might leave that out of consideration.”