School board weighing options
The first of several planned meetings concerning the future of Lawrence schools was held Tuesday. Parents voiced concerns and tried to come up with options that don't involve closing schools. Enlarge video
School closings on the line in Lawrence
With a $4 million budget deficit growing to $5 million, the likelihood of school closings seems to be increasing.
Make your voice heard
The Lawrence school board has scheduled three other public forums to discuss the district’s 2009-2010 budget:
• 7 p.m. Monday at Southwest Junior High, 2511 Inverness Drive.
• 7 p.m. March 1 at Central Junior High, 1400 Mass.
• 7:30 p.m. March 2 at West Junior High, 2700 Harvard.
Lawrence school budget picture
Potential options to eliminate an expected $5 million budget deficit for next school year:
• Program cuts — A list of school program, administrative and classified staff cuts are ranked in four “tiers.” The list includes a $250,000 cut to district administration and support. Others include reductions in guidance counselors and school nurses. Total of all cuts would save $3 million.
• Student-teacher ratio — The district would need about 20 fewer teaching positions for each time the ratio jumped by one student. Drawbacks are larger classes and fewer courses to offer. Increasing the ratio by one student would save $1.1 million, and a three-student increase would save $2.9 million.
• Closing schools — This option has gained vocal public opposition. Closing one elementary school would save $400,000 to $600,000.
• Others — The group Save Our Neighborhood Schools says the board should not close schools. Members say the $5 million gap can be closed through the program cuts; increasing the student-teacher ratio by 1 student and assessing “non-core” secondary programs; finding accounting and administrative efficiencies; and pursuing additional revenue like more public-private partnerships.
They begged and pleaded. Some shed tears.
Parents, teachers and community members packed the auditorium at South Junior High School on Tuesday night to state their cases to Lawrence school board members, who are trying to come up with a solution to the dire budget situation facing the district next year.
The district is faced with the daunting task of cutting up to $5 million from the 2010-2011 budget, and one of the possible solutions is closing elementary schools.
Board members heard emotional testimony from parents speaking out against closing neighborhood schools — heartbreaking stories like that of Christy Monsson, the mother of a 6-year-old Hillcrest School student with autism.
“Honestly, if Hillcrest closes, we don’t know if we would even stay in Kansas,” Monsson said. “Right now, she’s at a great place. She’s making progress.”
But other parents believe closing schools is a better alternative than raising the student-teacher ratio districtwide.
Sean Smith’s children attend Sunflower School, where the classrooms already are bursting at the seams.
“The number of students per teacher is huge,” Smith said. “My concern is that our numbers are just going to continue to go up and up and up. My daughter is in fifth grade, and I think she has 27 students in her class. I don’t see how that doesn’t have an impact.”
Among the solutions those in the audience offered for solving the budget crisis were more fundraising and raising taxes. One man said he’d be willing to volunteer to clean schools, after the district already has cut one-third of the custodial staff. Another parent volunteered at her child’s school teaching yoga classes.
“I think one of the strengths of this community is that we have talented people,” New York parent Jill Rohde said. “There are alternatives. There are people who are willing to give. I’m sick of begging here, pleading with you to keep my school open. I’d rather come up with solutions.”
The majority of the crowd was in favor of more short-term solutions. Rick Ingram specifically moved into the Hillcrest neighborhood so his daughter could attend that particular school.
“The cuts are painful. They are going to be painful no matter where they are, but if you make the cuts in temporary things, you can restore those cuts,” Ingram told board members. “You can restore the kinds of thing like sixth-grade band. It would be a shame to lose that, but you can bring that back. If you close an elementary school, you close that school forever.”
Board members said they were pleased by the turnout and the discussion. They hope more community members will attend the remaining three forums.
“I was very pleased. I think we got some questions out there. I think we provided some information,” school board member Bob Byers said. “Hopefully people left understanding a bit more. This is really a rough time for this community … this will affect every child in this district.”
Comments
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Kookamooka (MJ Browne) says…
Cut more from administration. Find accounting errors-there are some. Cut "instructional coaches". Other districts have done this-we can too. It doesn't effect a single student or teacher in the trench-really. KU should be turning out teachers so well prepared for their profession that they don't need more teachers, teaching them how to teach.
Made_in_China (Paul R. Getto) says…
The desperation is becoming evident, in the patrons, the board and on the blogs. All human services organizations use 80% or more of their budget on human resources (AKA people.) There is room for trimming, but with the new schools where the expectation is that all will learn, extra support is necessary. Teachers, like doctors and attorneys and others with licences, are not fully formed and totally competent in all areas when they graduate. All professions have skill development plans and mentors to help the young professionals. Schools are no different. "Middle management" is critical to the success of all organizations. Imagine an Army with only generals and privates. Without Captains, Lieutenants, Master Sgts, etc. to actually provide the day-to-day leadership, the mission would be compromised. If we want all students to achieve at higher levels (something happening in Kansas, at least for now) we will need people at all levels to achieve their goals. The only significant cuts what save money are to close buildings, dismiss teachers and increase class sizes. Clearly, this is causing heartburn in Lawrence.
youngjayhawk (anonymous) says…
Eliminate Wednesday collaboration; move to a 4-day week (including district offices); eliminate learning coaches (any teacher in the district will tell you that these positions are worthless); trim administration.
commuter (anonymous) says…
Curious - we are cutting adminstration. Has the LEA offered up any things they are willing to be reduced??
grammaddy (anonymous) says…
Cut administration, cut learning coaches. no school closings!!!!!
beawolf (anonymous) says…
The problem is larger than cutting a few jobs. This should have been planned for at least three years ago. I would demand that the current administration be replaced. This is just plain mismanagement. Unfortunately, there is no other solution that will ease that large of a deficit. Facilities have to be shut down.
gr3sam (anonymous) says…
Admin. cuts offered are de minimis. Although teachers are already hurting here, pass on the +$1M in new insurance costs to recipients like most businesses have. Spend the money from "unencumbered funds" accounts and all monies earmarked for "other expenses" and "misc. expenses" for the operating budget. Problem solved!
gl0ck0wn3r (anonymous) says…
"One man said he’d be willing to volunteer to clean schools, after the district already has cut one-third of the custodial staff."
lol.
wolfy (anonymous) says…
First we need to know what, exactly, lies behind the labels "other" and "miscellaneous" expenses. There is apparently $3 million, or more, carrying these useless labels. Why isn't the district more forthcoming and transparent with its budget information? Why isn't the complete USD 497 budget on line?
mammaweeks3 (anonymous) says…
I am appalled that nursing cuts are even being considered. With the health status of children being what it is today with an increased number in childhood diabetes, obesity, asthma and many other unique conditions like seizure disorders it is not practical to cut nursing. How many teachers have knowledge on how to handle a diabetic crisis or a seizure. Sure they can be taught but that would take more money. School nursing is not band aid medicine. It is intense and imperative to a learning institution. Each elementary school nurse already has more than 1 school and all Jr high nurses have an elementary school to over see. The nurses are being replaced by health room aids that are very helpful and crucial but are not nurses. I wonder how it would make any of those suggesting that nurses be cut for their child to be having a seizure for an unknown reason and for there to not be someone present to take care of them. There are so many ways to decrease the budget that is far less dangerous than cutting nursing staff.
lawrencemom2 (anonymous) says…
Thank you, Made in China, for your thoughtful response and insight to a serious problem.
kummerow (anonymous) says…
The Save Our Neighborhood Schools group has a budget outline that they feel can help the district weather these tough times. They have shared it with the school board and district officials. It is posted on their website at:
http://www.saveourneighborhoodschools...
Hop2It (anonymous) says…
Made in China, that was a great comment and analogy.
zzgoeb (anonymous) says…
Mmmm...no one has mentioned the elephant in the room...sports. What does the district spend annually on football and basketball? Priced a helmet or pads lately? How many coaches do we have?
In the UK, ALL school sports are 100 percent clubs, paid for by sponsors and participants! There has got to be bucks in the sports budget, and big bucks!!! (get ready for the all-sports whining and rationalizing here!)
webmocker (anonymous) says…
What zzgoeb said.
mrsm108 (anonymous) says…
Jobs will be lost, programs will be cut, class size will increase,but don't close neighborhood schools. Our future (state, city, neighborhood, family, self) ...depends on the education of our children. A broken system must heal from the inside out. Neighborhood schools are vital to growth...they require buy in and (hu)man power...Require every district employee to mentor a classroom by spending 4 hrs/wk IN the class..don't have a meeting to on how or when...just do it!
avoice (anonymous) says…
If all these parents really are ready to do what is necessary to help these schools, then they need to advocate for a four-day school week. This could be a temporary solution to be changed back to 5 days when the budget restraints ease. In the meantime, parents could pony up extra money for child care (helping more childcare providers get work) or volunteer to be child care providers just the same as they volunteer to be yoga teachers and custodians. It's just one day a week! Besides, the kids would be in school longer on the other four days, making the school day align more closely with the 8-5 workday of most parents.
roggy (anonymous) says…
I'm impressed with so many thoughtful comments! This is a tough time but I don't see much improvement in the next few years so any cuts will probably be permanent. I've looked at the cuts and they are all painful! I heard that we have 1500 empty seats in elementary classrooms in the district. We could change boundaries and keep moving people from the west further east. Soon, no one would be in a neighborhood school, we would still have empty seats and we would have only added more transportation costs. I hope everyone remembers that our school board members don't get paid. They are volunteering their time to get beat up by the public.
tomatogrower (anonymous) says…
Having mentors for 1st and 2nd year teachers are good, but after that, if they aren't doing a good job, they should be let go. Teachers can be let go even after their 3 years, if the principals are documenting problems. It's called due process. Most administrators are just too lazy to do it, or the bad teacher is a good coach, and they would rather win football games. Get rid of the teacher coaches. I can't believe this wasn't done on the first cuts.
The 1200 people at last Sat.'s march need to head to Topeka. All parents need to head to Topeka and demand that they do their job. The courts tried, but the voters can say, either support our schools or we aren't going to vote for you. I'm usually not a 1 issue voter, but I think this gutting of our educational system may change me.
oneeye_wilbur (anonymous) says…
If the parents had wanted to save money, they first of all,would have not voted in two ill conceived bond issues. They would also have lobbied for a diagonal boundary line for the city. It is stupid to have kids in North Lawrence going to Free State, when they can walk to Lawrence High. Oh how dumb of Wilbur, we can't have them walk,we want them to be Obese, so Michelle Obama can help them lose weight by having the schools prepare gourment Lean Cuisine.
The board needs to make the cuts. One reason many people would not serve on the board is because there are many who have taken this district to the chopping block 20 years ago.
Nepotism rules, parents want the schools to be daycare after school and the district still does not understand that they cannot be the #2 employer and pay no real estate taxes but only consume them.
All the parents and the board has wanted to do is spend, spend and spend more trying to eumulate Blue Valley or wherever, instead of focusing on a tight , lean budget and promote education and independence among the students.
Lastly, the realtors need to butt out of back door politics with the district. My understanding is that they whined about Indian Hills to save it and got South rebuilt and that was about as big of waste as any community could have fallen for.
It seems that only the parents of kids are the only ones allowed to comment. Well, in case the parents of kids havn't figured it out, and the district admin people and board as well, outside business interests have well figured this district out.
It is too expensive to bring employment here when over 50% of the local property taxes goes to the school district.
One day , Lawrence will wake up and the Chamber of Commerce as well.
rlsd (anonymous) says…
They have already chosen to close schools and it is all for show to pretend they are considering anything else.. It is really cruel to let everyone think that it has not been decided yet. It is a matter of closing schools and more to get to where they are saying we need to be. I think there ARE other solutions to the crunch.
Maxandwillie (anonymous) says…
There are no easy solutions to the budget crisis. The reality is there is not enough money to meet the expenses that currently exist. Without a tax increase there is only one way to get there and that is eliminating the major expenses for the district and that is primarily teachers and administrators.
As for neighborhood schools, in the perfect world all of our kids could walk to school easily and safely. Unfortunately that is simply not realistic. My kids go to Quail Run and we live north of the Hyvee on 6th st. Deerfield is actually a mile closer to our house than Quail run, but the district believed it would be in the overall best interest of kids in Lawrence for our neighborhood to attend Quail Run.
It is not our neighborhood school, but our kids are getting a good education. The reasons are somewhat simple: competent teachers and parents who are concerned about their education.
Those same factors will be the determining issues that dictate the quality of the education for kids in schools that might get closed.
puddleglum (anonymous) says…
maybe these people should stop having so many children, if they can't afford to fund their own schools.
Or, you could ebay a bunch of the new stoplights along 6th street and use the money to fund those schools.
jackson5 (anonymous) says…
Taxes won't go down if they close schools. Overcrowding will lead to more calls for capital outlay projects. For example, at the 2/8/10 board meeting, the board discussed a need to build a new 9th grade wing at the high schools. Also, see link below for goal 3.2 - establishing a welcome center - more capital outlay (not to mention more administrative staff to suck money out of the general fund). http://www.usd497.org/AboutUs/MeetThe...
gl0ck0wn3r (anonymous) says…
WWKMD?
(What would Kirk McClure do?)
spiderd (anonymous) says…
Random thoughts upon reading the comments:
Regarding the "learning coaches"...
The good teachers don't need them
The lazy careless teachers don't listen
I'd rather have my son in a class of 40 with a decent well-meaning teacher than in a class of 20 with some of the useless paycheck driven "teachers" I've seen.
The Sunflower parent that was sooo concerned made his comment and walked out - there's a lot to learn and appreciate about all of the issues here, he might want to make an attempt.
Closings schools is not the only way to come up with the money. If people don't think there's a large amount of inefficiency in our beurocratic chain you've spent less time among people than me.
Sports got a free pass by the district advocating they move 9th grade sports up to high school. $150,000 in savings right there but they were not asked to make any other recommendations regarding their own efficiency.
There are no more "easy" geographic school closings. The next closing will disclude a vast area of the city of a school.
Those kids that are displaced still have to deal with the rest of the districts decisions. Their sacrifice will be many times more than any other children. Except of course the neighboring school which now has to deal with district cuts and a large surplus of new displaced children. What sacrifices is the community going to offer to acknowledge these children and families that bare the major brunt of this budget crisis?
youngjayhawk (anonymous) says…
You are right, risd, I agree ... it's a done deal; we've all seen it happen before ... the token "public input" meetings, etc.
motomom (anonymous) says…
risd....sad to say, but i think you could be correct.
tomatogrower (anonymous) says…
puddleglum (Anonymous) says…
maybe these people should stop having so many children, if they can't afford to fund their own schools.
So, now you are pro-choice?
puddleglum (anonymous) says…
actually, I am pro-tomato.
oh, and pro-sterilization
as soon as I am elected governor, i will enact the "mandatory sterilization for anyone with an IQ less than 110-act"
that should solve the abortion issue.
bwebcorp (anonymous) says…
What is the $4.76 million increase in Capital Improvements for? Seems like a pretty steep jump. I think we could wait a year to make improvements.
kugrad (anonymous) says…
Someone asked if the LEA had offered any suggestions of things they'd be willing to cut. I want to point out that the LEA is not in charge of the budget. The budget is not negotiated. There are items in the master agreement (available online from the USD497 website) that may be 'noticed' and then negotiated. As salary is part of the agreement, it may be negotiated, but the budget itself is non-negotiable. So,the LEA is not in a position to say what they would be willing or unwiling to give up.
I can't help but wonder if the insinuation of the question was that the LEA was hanging onto programs or something that they favor. If so, that would reflect a big misunderstanding as to what the LEA does and does not do. LEA has very little to do with curriculum and programs and that sort of thing. They do offer small grants and things like that to help teachers with innovative projects, be we are talking maybe $50-100. They give scholarships to kids and adults and that sort of thing, but they don't have some sort of curricular agenda.
tomatogrower (anonymous) says…
The Kansas legislature has put us in this situation by giving businesses tax cuts practically every year since Graves was the governor. Supposedly this was to attract businesses and create jobs. What are the statistics that this is working? I did a search online and couldn't find anything. When will the legislature demand a study to see if we are sacrificing our schools for nothing? Is there any study that shows a low business tax rate actually increased jobs and business anywhere? You want schools to be held accountable, how about holding businesses accountable. I'm not from Missouri, but Show Me the evidence.
d_prowess (anonymous) says…
The info box on the left hand side of this article does show two options to cut the money and not close schools. I am not going to say either of those are better alternatives to closing schools, because I really don't know the pros and cons. But there are definitely other options than only closing schools.
merrill (anonymous) says…
Parents have offered up a practical and fiscally responsible budget suggestions. They have found about $5 million dollars
worth of cuts and new revenues for the district.
Of course USD 497 still has $7,000,000 in a contingency fund that could be used plus put the new budget suggestions to work by next fall. Between the two USD 497 will more able to meet the challenges ahead.
See new budget ideas:
http://discuss.larryville.com/viewtop...
merrill (anonymous) says…
* Our paid for school buildings are worth millions upon millions upon millions of tax dollars savings.
How do we solve this problem for the long term to avoid future complications?
*collect online sales tax dedicated to public schools only is a reasonable source for the state to consider.
*local source to help fund USD 497 medical insurance, salaries, and perhaps school fees. This could become available as a dedicated City of Lawrence USD 497 user fee:
http://www2.ljworld.com/polls/2003/ma...
*developers should be required to set aside property for future neighborhood schools as they are creating the need. After all neighborhood schools add net worth to their projects.
All USD 497 schools benefit. Perhaps experienced USD 497 teachers will stop fleeing to Blue Valley as well.
workinghard (anonymous) says…
Here's a crazy thought, can we combine LHS and Freestate sports teams "temporarily"? Does the high school sports rules allow for that? Probably not, that would makes things too simple, but look at the money we could save.
commuter (anonymous) says…
KUgrad - Boy you are really testy. Why can't I be curious if the LEA has offered any suggestions???
In the next year budget, are there raises for teachers in the budget???
Can we go to full school days on Wednesday???
kugrad (anonymous) says…
Commuter, I wasn't being testy, just doubting that the question you were asking was agenda-free or free from insinuation. I'm still not sure.
As for your question, you asked and I gave the best answer I could.
The next year's budget hasn't been set, so know one can answer that question. However, looking into my crystal ball, I see no raises on the horizon. I'm hoping teachers will maintain insurance, as no one can afford to lose that these days.
LEA was not soley responsible for the implementation of collaboration time. That idea came from work in committees, formed at school board request, and was adopted by the administration and board. LEA has no authority to grant or take away that time. That being said, there is tremendous value to this time for most teachers. Achivement has risen in Lawrence, steadily, since this time was put into place. Not sure if there is a causal effect there, but it is true.
A full day Wed. would save $0 dollars in the district budget, so it has little to do with a budget discussion. There is no chance the district will go to a 4 day week (if you were thinking the connection is a full Wed. and no Friday for example) because Lawrence doesn't have the kind of transportation costs that produce big savings from a shortened week. So, the district
would save something, but not enough to make any significant dent in the budget crisis.
commuter (anonymous) says…
Kugrad - thanks for the info. I hear about cuts in administration, I hear people saying that the administration should take a pay cut, I see that custodians are being cut, school nurses being cut, etc. Besides of maybe increasing class size. i haven't heard of cuts that would impact teachers.
Did_I_say_that (DIST) says…
"But other parents believe closing schools is a better alternative than raising the student-teacher ratio districtwide."
Unless people get busy and start making babies six years ago, it would be impossible to raise the student-teacher ratio district wide. Unless, of course, you close smaller schools and move those students to larger schools. Closing schools will result in increased student-teacher ratios. It will not cause reduced district wide costs.
agnes17 (anonymous) says…
Commuter writes,
"Besides maybe increasing class size. i haven't heard of cuts that would impact teachers."
Whether schools are closed or not, the student to teacher ratio (at least in the elementary level) is likely to go up by one. The purpose of raising the ratio is to reduce the number of teaching positions. Raising the ratio by one, will result in reducing the current teaching workforce by approximately 25 teachers. However, it is my understanding that currently at least that number of teachers have identified to the district that they will retire at the end of this school year
puddleglum (anonymous) says…
tomatogrower:
The Kansas legislature has put us in this situation by giving businesses tax cuts practically every year since Graves was the governor. Supposedly this was to attract businesses and create jobs. What are the statistics that this is working?
well, poor business owners need extra money, because they work so hard. Sometimes, they have to play golf, too.
as far as how well this is working, we got a new Wal-mart, what more do ya want? I can't wait for the day when all of these mom & pop stores die out and all we have is corporate chinese-made junk stores. happy times all day long.
gl0ck0wn3r (anonymous) says…
"merrill (Anonymous) says… collect online sales tax dedicated to public schools only is a reasonable source for the state to consider."
How about a $5000 per job fee on landscaping services? That makes about as much logical sense, old man.
commuter (anonymous) says…
Actually I am very concerned about the lawnscaping companies, the state should charge an annual license of $10,000, then they can use the money to fund education. How about it Richard, i mean Merril??
kugrad (anonymous) says…
Commuter,
Now I think I understand your question. As this unfolds, look for classroom teachers (not just learning coaches and counselors and other support staff) to lose their jobs. People who retire will not be replaced, first and second year teachers will probably be let go. It is quite likely that some 3rd year will go as well.
When some programs are cut at the high school and/or Jr. High levels, there will probably be some teachers out of jobs from that.
It is also worth pointing out that teachers took a big hit last year in insurance. The insurance this year is much lower quality than last and the copays are much higher for prescriptions. When you consider that a majority of the teachers are quite experienced, you get an idea of their age bracket as well........hence more medical bills.
The proposal that is called "increasing the ratio" means laying off teachers. I can't be sure if I have it figured correctly, but I think an increase of 1 on the ratio results in somewhere around 18-20 teacher lay offs.
So, the teachers will certainly be affected, proposed cuts just aren't always framed in that way by the district or the media. I'm not even sure all the teachers "get it." If they did, I think we'd see more involvment from the Jr. and Sr. high staffs in working to solve the budget crisis. Right now the elementary teachers and families are leading the way while the secondary level does very little other than a few LEA members (in terms of political activism here in Lawrence).
Hope that helps. Sorry if I seemed testy the first time; I get that way!
gl0ck0wn3r (anonymous) says…
"commuter (Anonymous) says…Actually I am very concerned about the lawnscaping companies, the state should charge an annual license of $10,000, then they can use the money to fund education. How about it Richard, i mean Merril??"
Indeed. Lawnscaping using gasoline powered mowers is more polluting than most cars. Why does Merrill hate the environment? Additionally, landscaping does not benefit the state or the prole because it does not provide agricultural products. It is simply a way for the class enemy to antagonize and enslave the worker.
amrose42683 (anonymous) says…
This is effecting not only those that have children currently at these schools, but those of us that are about to send our little ones to school for the first time. My family couldn't possibly be the only ones that are looking at and willing to move to the school district of our choosing in order for our daughter to go to a good school ... of course our lease is also about up and we want to move anyway. The point is, where we move is going to be based on where we want our child to go to school. Unfortunately, we can't make this decision until we find which schools will be closing.
I would hope there is a better way than closing any of the schools. Some things may have to be temporarily cut and those who do the "negotiating" buy more time to figure out an overall solution. Once a school is closed, it's not easy to reopen a couple years later if the economic climate changes for the better and/or a larger budget is reinstated.
xeniahawk (anonymous) says…
Seems like our bureaucratic heavy administration laden system is imploding yet they continue to trot out bond issues and the masses keep voting them in without any accountability. Didn't this band of bureaucrats just find enough money to build two brand new football stadiums and redo the astroturf at Free State baseball stadium????? Seems like there is plenty of money to go around but when the state starts tightening down, then the talk turns to laying off teachers, closing down schools and eliminating bus service, yet we have the millions for new sports facilities. Maybe, just a thought, we could eliminate all of the administrators at McDonald Drive that make more than the governor of Kansas in annual salary. We could then easily find the money since no one is holding them accountable anyway!!! While we are at it, let's get a whole new school board that has more sense and has the courage to stand up to these mealy mouthed administrators who double talk their way into justifying their own jobs without any care for the children of our district.