photo by: Journal-World

Lawrence Public Schools district offices pictured in April 2021.

The Lawrence school board will soon continue its deliberations of budget cuts to address the district’s multimillion-dollar budget shortfall.

As part of its meeting Monday, the board will consider a recommendation from district administrators for an additional $605,300 in budget cuts.

The board approved 20 budget reductions totaling about $5.8 million as part of its meeting March 28. The board plans to make a total of about $6.41 million in cuts, and in order to reduce the amount of cuts proposed for school libraries, directed district administrators to identify an additional $341,000 in budget reductions through a combination of cuts to learning coaches and administration.

District administration’s initial proposal called for an approximately 40% cut to library funding for a reduction of about $608,000, but the board voted instead to support a variation of a proposal from district librarians. That proposal calls for an approximately 17% cut to spending for a reduction of about $264,320.

The board did not provide direction on March 28 for how it wanted to divide the cuts between learning coaches and administration, and instead requested that the district’s recommendation come back to the board for further discussion. The district’s recommendation is to make additional administration reductions in the amount of $177,441 and reductions to learning coaches, which provide support for teachers, in the amount of $163,521.

The cuts the board has approved thus far include $400,000 in administrative staff reductions. Initial budget proposals — which district administrators did not recommend — included a 5% reduction to the salaries of administrators making more than $100,000 through the use of furlough days, which was estimated to save the district about $170,000 next year. The current proposal from the district does not specify whether the $163,521 in additional administrative cuts is accomplished through staff cuts, salary reductions, or some other means.

The district is required by state law to approve a balanced budget, and the district estimated the board had to make up to $4.27 million worth of cuts to meet that requirement. That portion of the district’s budget reductions was due mainly to declining enrollment, and the board is looking to make the additional cuts to provide raises to district staff.

The Lawrence school board will convene at 6 p.m. Monday at district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.