photo by: Journal-World

Lawrence Public Schools district offices pictured in April 2021.

Lawrence school district leaders will soon begin discussing budget reductions that could include multiple school closures and dozens of teacher cuts, as well as the results of an equity review that recommends against several of the options.

As part of a special meeting on Tuesday, the Lawrence school board will receive a budget scenario created by a committee through a consultant-led process. The budget scenario calls for 10 cuts, including closing or repurposing two unspecified elementary schools and one middle school; increasing class sizes at the middle and high school levels; and transitioning to a four-day school week for students. The board will also receive the results of an equity review the committee completed about the various cuts, which resulted in a recommendation against four of the cuts.

The district estimates the budget scenario will cut between $7.56 million to $9.52 million. Based on the district-provided average teacher cost of $65,000, the lower range of the scenario would eliminate 70 secondary teaching positions through the increase in class size at that level — to 28 students per class at the middle school level and 30 at the high school level — as well as through the reduction in planning time at the middle school level. The district estimates each elementary school closure would save between $300,000 to $400,000 and the middle school closure $325,000 based on cuts to building principals, custodians and secretaries. A transition to a four-day student school week/five-day staff work week would save $700,000. The scenario calls for the reduction of one district administrator at an average cost of $127,662 per position.

As part of its last meeting, the committee completed an activity to analyze the equity impact of the 10 budget reductions, considering questions such as “who is unintentionally being de-centered and/or marginalized?” The committee was broken into groups and each group was given one of the 10 reductions to analyze. Based off the various equity considerations, the groups recommended against increasing class sizes at the middle and high school levels; against eliminating middle school plan time; and against a four-day school week for students. The activity indicated the remaining options could or should be cut.

The 39-member committee consists of 15 parent/guardians, eight district staff members who are also parent/guardians, six community members, four district administrators, four district teachers or other certified staff members, and two students. As the Journal-World reported, committee members present for the committee’s last meeting on Feb. 15 were polled regarding whether they supported each proposed reduction and “qualitative considerations” were solicited. In addition to the equity review, the poll results and a bulleted list of summarized comments are provided alongside the budget scenario that will be provided to the board on Tuesday.

Presentation materials for the board state that the bullet points were condensed and summarized after reviewing all committee member thoughts, and that the same comment may have been notated on multiple handouts, but was only listed once on the budget scenario. The list of comments does not indicate which comments were made only once and which were made multiple times.

Some of the 68 comments related to the budget scenario are as follows, and the remainder of the comments compiled by consultants are available as part of the agenda materials:

• Consider high school (class sizes) of 25-28; the proposed 30 is too high

• Consider implementing (increased class sizes) for electives only – not core classes

• Consider additional cuts (of) two to three positions in central administration

• Do not consider cutting over one position of district administration

• Consider a tiered salary reduction to administration, 10% or variation of the University of Kansas model

• Consider paired grade centers (K-2, 3-5) instead of school closures

• Do not consider closing schools in lower socioeconomic status neighborhoods

• Consider closing a third elementary school

• Consider repurposing Liberty Memorial Central Middle School as an art-based education and language school

• Do not consider a middle school closure for the 2023-24 school year

Comments were also solicited about matters not related to the current budget scenario. Some of the 40 general comments are as follows, and the remainder of the comments compiled by the consultants are available as part of the agenda materials:

• Consider relocating district offices to a repurposed facility (Kennedy) and selling current building

• Consider the impacts on training and administrative workspace if district offices are sold

• Consider a new recruitment strategy for students

• Consider charging a fee for certain electives that are higher cost to the district

• Consider conducting a review of course catalog to streamline class offerings

• Consider the impact of a $9-million cut on quality of education and teacher working conditions; a pay-raise may not be worth the serious impacts it will cause

• Consider committee concern with process and decision-making process; many feel as if this was a multiple-choice test with administration providing the choice rather than a cooperative, solution seeking work

• Consider the root of this problem — will the cuts presented address the larger issue?

The budget reduction scenario was the result of a group activity in January where the committee, working from a list of options provided by the school district, was asked to create a modified scenario that added or took away from district administrators’ proposed budget reduction package. The amount of the district’s budget reduction package, which was the basis for the January committee activity, was based on a district estimate that it will take $9 million over the next one to two years to achieve competitive wages for staff; $1 million annually to cover annual cost increases; and approximately $6.2 million over the next 10 years to increase district cash balances. The district previously identified those three areas as budget priorities.

Presentation materials state the goal of the committee process was to provide a recommendation for Lawrence schools Superintendent Anthony Lewis regarding what should and shouldn’t be considered to achieve the budget priorities. The board will then consider the superintendent’s recommended scenario as part of its regular meeting on Feb. 27.

Regarding when Lewis will provide his recommendation to the board, district spokesperson Julie Boyle said Lewis may share some thoughts of his own and on behalf of administration about budget reductions as part of Tuesday’s special meeting and again on Feb. 27.

Boyle said based on the time frame for required public hearings related to school closures, district administration has recommended that decisions made regarding closing a school for next school year should be made by Feb. 27. She said as part of Tuesday’s meeting district administration will be looking for direction and any requests for additional information from the school board.

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