In the eye of the storm

I haven't posted in a while, but not because I haven't been thinking about and working on school board matters. Quite the opposite. The statewide budget crisis that I wrote about a month ago is on my mind all the time.

As I read about cost-cutting (read: people being put out of work) measures at districts around the state, my heart sinks and my blood pressure rises. How did it come to this? Schools are not immune to recessions, particularly the sort of monster recession the country's been in for a couple years now. But recent changes to Indiana's school funding and property tax structure have combined with the recession to make this a very hard hit.

Closer to home I am cheered that the Lebanon schools are in better shape than many other districts, due to careful planning and conservative money management. Perhaps it is cold comfort to say that others are in worse shape than we are, but it is the truth.

After weeks of work, four staff meetings, and two community meetings, next week Dr. Taylor and CFO/assistant superintendent Charles Tait will release to the board and the public the final list of proposed cuts. The board will discuss and take public input on on the proposal at our March 16 meeting, and vote on the budget cuts at our regular meeting on April 20. The goal in putting the proposal together has been to impact teaching and learning as little as possible, to cut strategically to protect the gains Lebanon has made in student achievement, and to spread the pain of the cuts across all sectors of the budget.

Even after implementing the cuts, however, the budget situation is very fluid. How many LCSC staff will retire this year? (Retiring staff are not required to tell the corporation of their plans by any certain date.) Will the legislature act to allow schools to move money from one fund to another in order to relieve some pressure on the general fund? Will the state come back to us next week, next month, or in August (or all three), and tell us that they are cutting even more from our general fund? State revenues were reported down again yesterday--we have to be ready to respond if that impacts K-12 funding.

Right now we have to plan very conservatively and prepare for the worst, while hoping that we can make positive adjustments between now and August.

Thank you for reading.