USD 223 budget cut idea list
Posted by Backroadsnews on Mar 31, 2010 in Uncategorized |
The compiled list of budget cut ideas from the USD 223 budget info meetings on Monday and Tuesday were not available for publication in this week’s paper. The list has, however, now been posted on the USD 223 site - http://www.usd223.org/.
Check it out. It covers the gamut of potential cuts in my opinion.
I did notice that one of the suggestions was closing the parochial school and offering a zero hour for religious instruction.
This list is supposed to be for ideas for the public school board to potentially take action on. I’m pretty sure the public school board has no authority to close the parochial schools in the district so I’m kind of wondering why it is even listed.
Can you imagine the response if USD 108 – Washington County had a budget info meeting and one of the listed cut ideas was to close Linn and Hanover schools and have them come to Washington? Kind of ridiculous, huh?
Holy moly, that list is crazy! They are looking at some pretty crazy cuts. Perhaps if it’s that bad, they need to just do something ‘major’. (consolidate) Course, I like how they have Scholars Bowl on the cut list, but not sports..lol..Isn’t Scholars Bowl tied to ‘getting an education’ more then sports? Just struck me as odd……who needs smart kids when you have an awesome sports program…funny.
Are some of these even allowable to cut:
Eliminate Aide positions & use student aides – would this be for handicapped individuals also?
Eliminate bus service – they don’t have to provide bus service?
Raise sales taxes – can schools set sales tax increases?
Close parochial school and have a zero hour for religion class/study hall – do they have the authority to do that?
I personally think these would be horrible ideas and would hate it if it happened here:
Cut subs & replace with study hall – if it happened a lot for one class
Use Aides in DLN room rather than certified teachers – can they provide the same type of help?
Eliminate high school scholars bowl – makes no sense
Pay to play – many kids wouldn’t be able to afford to play
Things that that should have been doing all along:
Use LED lighting in buildings
Write grant for wind turbines to save cost of electricity
Use solar power to reduce utility costs
Encourage more parents to apply for free/reduced lunches
These are just my opinions and what I would think if I was in that school district.
Dawn
First of all — no offense taken, but the scholar bowl cuts were my suggestions even though my kids are the ones who are some of the “leads” for lack of a better term on junior high and high school teams and are on a couple of sports teams but aren’t starters by any means (I’ll stop here to save them any more embarrassment than I already cause them).
Cutting scholar bowls won’t save much money but it would at least help. This cut wouldn’t be hurt the community as a whole as much as other cuts. Hopefully it would be a temporary cut until the economy turns around.
Also, to be realistic, at the high school level it can be difficult to find time for the scholar bowl meets if the students are also involved in basketball and other activities. At least the junior high meets occur after basketball season, but it’s hard to schedule them around spring break and other activities.
Yes, in the big picture, it makes absolutely no sense to cut scholar bowls, but these are hard times. I just wish that one cut would solve the problem, but it’s a drop in the bucket.
What is the deal with the Greenleaf preschool? I thought Greenleaf was part of the USD 108 district, or is it split between the two districts?
Abe,
I’m not 100% positive but I think they may have taken over that preschool when #108 started doing theirs here in Washington. The preschool in Washington is actually run by the Learning Coop out of Concordia, I believe.
Dawn
I have a questions for those who are closely related to all of this:
What happened to make there be such a huge split between #223 and #108? It seems as though #223 would rather do anything other than combine and I get the feeling that there is a lot of personal feelings behind the decision. I don’t remember it being so seperate when I was in school in the 80s. Also, is there anything that can be done to mend the situation?
Dawn
I think there’d be the exact same tension between communities if a consolidation discussion were happening for Linn and Hanover. They don’t like each other any more than they do Washington, in my opinion.
And Pike Valley is totally opposed to getting along with Belleville.
Mankato and Jewell weren’t able to approve a consolidation, even though most Jewell kids ended up going to Mankato.
Axtell-Bern is going to consolidate with Sabetha instead of B&B.
I think it is just the nature of small town rivalries.
One thing everybody should look at is that consolidation will happen! What people in Washington County need to decide is if they want to do it ans set their own rules or do they want the State to come in and do it setting their rules. I would suggest that everybody start watching the legislature every year as it is an up and coming subject of combining school districts and county’s. It is always better to work together than be forced to work together.
I hope all of you are doing fine and Happy Easter! Tim, Pam and Family
GAG. Dawn, wait til it starts here? I guarantee none of the big sports that cost the most money to run will be cut. I also do not get the idea of being opposed to fund raisers to maintain programs. We are a public school, if the public wants to save a program why not?
It is my understanding that football and basketball are usually profitable. So if they cut based on profitability, gone would be track, golf, cross country, cheer, dance line.
Fundraisers get old, however. At some point, a person just kind of throws up their hands and says “whatever!” In our area, without a vibrant economy, we could run ourselves ragged trying to raise funds for everything under the sun. I know I get hit up constantly at the office for fundraisers – and all the schools feel like they need to hit up the Washington County News, though I bet the Hanover News and Linn-Palmer Record don’t get hit up by more than just their one school. Oh whoa is me.
I kind of think maybe students should not be raising funds for American Heart Association and other national organizations like that during difficult years like this and instead focus on local needs.
As a counterpoint, why don’t they stop raising money for local ‘needs’ and only fundraise for national organizations. Imagine all the good that could be done. People can play the sports as intramurals and spend the money on important causes. That would be a lesson worth teaching kids IMHO.
I was thinking more like raising funds for KSDS and Washington County Food Bank, rather than American Heart Association, etc. I wasn’t talking about sports. I really don’t think we should have to raise funds for sports. We either have them at schools or we don’t. I’m busy enough the way it is – I don’t want to add sports fundraiser to my resume.
I guess maybe they can get a loan from the County….they should have plenty of money since my property was appraised much higher than last year even though I’ve done nothing to it. I think my taxes will be over $1000/year now. I know it’s way cheaper than in big cities but dang, my house is old!
Dawn
Well Dawn, of course property taxes will be going up – you know there is such high demand for all housing in Washington County with all the people moving here and the fact that the industrial parks are bursting at their seems and we can’t fit all the new kids into the schools and all the tourists and all the downtowns being without vacant space and we all have gold mines in our backyard and…
Oh wait. We’re in a bad economy? Our population has been declining for a hundred years? We’re looking at cuts in most government sectors because of state budget problems? There are no gold mines underneath the doghouses in our backyards?
Why the heck are our property appraisals going up?
Dan – I know what’s under the dog house in my back yard and it aint a gold mine…
On property taxes, the county has kept their mill levy the same for the past few years. It is the utility company’s values that can drive up the mill levy after it has already been set. The state sets the values for the apparaisal system, and I would agree with Rod Ohlde the state needs to take another look at that. Although I realize many people struggle to pay their taxes, even though I’m on the other side of the table now, the commissioners only have control of the county mill levy. You have to remember the city sets their mill levy, as well as the school districts, townships, and extension district. All of these entities provide services I assume people still want, so…..that is why you pay taxes. And our valuation went up as well, I’m sure most of them did.
And Dan, I appreciate your show of support for KSDS. KSDS has been in Washington for 20 years, and I’m proud to say I work there, and I’ve seen the transformations made in people’s lives through an assistance dog, and KSDS is fully accredited by Assistance Dogs International. KSDS has tax credits available for the Karen Price Living Center, the future accessible sixplex housing for our KSDS students. Thanks for listening.