March 28, 2011
More than 100 people joined in a discussion
about proposed budget cuts at
The evening began with a presentation in the secondary school auditorium by Superintendent Dr. Paul Dorward and Business Official Kevin Callagy. Dr. Dorward informed the audience of the difficult choices the district is facing in these tough economic times and that the Board of Education and the administrators want to hear feedback from the community on the proposed cuts and tax levy rates. Mr. Callagy explained the process of how the current draft budget was created and the amount of money that would have to be cut from the budget to reach varying tax levy percentages.
Following the introduction, the attendees separated into seven small, facilitator-led discussion groups, where each group was given the task to discuss each category of potential cuts – instructional, non-instructional, non-mandated, extracurricular, and sports – and then agree to enough cuts to try to get a total savings amount that fell between the 4-5 percent tax levy.
The groups were then asked to vote on five items they would suggest the Board consider eliminating from the budget and up to five items they would suggest the Board not eliminate from the budget.
During each discussion, the facilitators took notes on the participants’ comments, which can be read below.
After about 75 minutes of discussion, the attendees returned to the auditorium, where the facilitators reported out if the groups were able to form a majority vote on the cuts, and if so, what items would they recommend the Board cut/not cut.
While not every group was able to come to a majority vote on the proposed cuts, there were some agreements among all seven groups, such as:
* Do not eliminate full-day kindergarten;
* Day and evening GED could be cut because they are programs that are offered elsewhere;
* The student newspaper could be saved by eliminating print costs and producing an online-only version.
The administrators and Board of Education are currently reviewing the information that came out of both forums and will use it to help shape future discussions during the budget development process.
Below are the notes in PDF form from each small group discussion.
Black Group Blue Group Brown Group Green Group
Orange Group Purple Group Red Group
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