Cutting the $15,000 subsidy to two middle school performing arts programs this year will no longer be considered, the District 97 board made clear last week.
The board also ruled out increasing class sizes next year. But the board is determined to find at least $645,000 in cuts in next year’s budget to keep expenditures from outpacing revenues by no more than 4 percent.
Seventeen parents planned to address the board in public comment at last week’s school board meeting to urge against cutting subsidies to Julian Middle School’s CAST program and Brook’s Middle School’s BRAVO! program.
But before anyone could say a word, school board President Carolyn Newberry Schwartz told the crowd that the board had decided against reducing or eliminating the subsidy to the arts programs this year.
At its previous meeting, the board had talked about that as one possible area for savings, but determined that what seemed to be large balances in the performing arts organizations’ accounts were misleading because they had some big bills to pay.
But no promises were made regarding CAST and BRAVO! after this year, although board members seemed to have little interest in cutting the programs.
“For the record, I have no interest in BRAVO! or CAST [subsidies] being eliminated or reduced,” said board member Peter Barber.
Barber and fellow board members Julie Blankemeier and Dan Burke said they would not consider increasing class size next year.
“In the short term, increasing class size is not something we should be looking at,” said Barber.
It is estimated that increasing class size in the elementary school to 22-24 students per class would save the district about $500,000. Current average class sizes in the elementary school range from a high of 21.7 at Beye School to a low of 18.5 at Hatch.
With the district’s financial situation gradually deteriorating, increasing class size may be something the district will have to look at long term, especially if it decides not to seek a tax hike referendum, or if a referendum fails.
“We are taking increasing class size off [the table], but we are looking at it long term,” Newberry Schwartz said.
Board member Marcia Frank predicted the board will have to face the class-size issue.
“This issue will come up,” said Frank. “This issue will come up faster than people realize.”
With increasing class size off the table, Gary Lonquist, assistant superintendent for finance and operations, is looking at a variety of administrative areas that might be ripe for reduction, but has yet to make any recommendations to the board.
“I think we have a lot of work to do, but I’m also quite confident we’ll get to where we want to be,” Lonquist told the board.
In an interview Monday, Newberry Schwartz emphasized that the board is determined to deal with its fiscal problems.
“We have an ongoing fiscal problem and we need to figure out a course of action in the next few years,” said Newberry Schwartz.