The Stevens Point Area School District needs to reduce its budget by about $1.9 million for the 2004-2005 school year, and the high school and junior high schools are targets for the bulk of the reductions.
David Schuler, superintendent of schools, presented a list of proposed reductions at the Stevens Point Area Board of Education meeting on Monday, Jan. 12. The Budget Services Committee will discuss the reductions and submit a recommendation to the board at a later date.
Schuler said the district must reduce its budget due to declining enrollment, the current state budget and the state-imposed revenue cap. The state budget, affected by a $2 billion deficit, reduced state funding of education from 67 percent to 64 percent in 2003-2004 and to 62 percent in 2004-2005.
Schuler said his proposal was designed to present a balanced budget for 2004-2005, knowing that the district must examine the organization and structure because of the continued decline in enrollment.
The district will review programming for grades 6-12 because the district will need to continue to reduce the budget over the next several years by $1 to $2 million without making some changes in programming.
Schuler's recommendations for committee study included:
- Reduce 12 full-time teaching positions at the secondary level due to declining enrollment, a potential savings of $600,000.
- Savings of $450,000 through 30 anticipated retirements.
- Eliminate district cost of driver education by having students pick up the entire cost, saving $121,000.
- Reduce educational full-time equivalent (FTE) assistant time, mainly due to declining enrollment (2.14 FTE at SPASH, 0.18 FTE at Charles Fernandez Center for Alternative Learning and 1.52 FTE between Ben Franklin and P.J. Jacobs), a savings of $55,432.
- Reduce 1.25 FTE clerical time between Ben Franklin and P.J. Jacobs, and 0.5 FTE at SPASH, saving $49,926.
- Reduce secondary guidance services at Ben Franklin and P.J. Jacobs by 1.0 FTE, saving $84,138.
- Reduce the capital outlay budget by approximately 15 percent, saving $224,550.
- Reduce the buildings and grounds budget by $100,000.
- Reduce 0.5 FTE school social worker services, saving $38,000.
- Reduce transportation services budget by $23,050.
- Reduce secondary department chairs for departments with two or fewer staff, saving $9,890.
- Reduce the athletic budget by 10 percent, saving $22,150.
- Reduce the vocational education budget by 10 percent, saving $21,944.
- Shift 50 percent of the nursing services budget from the general budget to the special education flow-through grant, thereby saving $92,000. The shift would allow continuation of services, but services would be paid for through the grant.