Schools

School Board Weighs Possibilities for Budget Cuts

Options on the table include closing an elementary school, reducing teaching staff and increasing class sizes.

Plymouth-Canton Community Schools are facing a possible $17 million budget deficit for the 2011-12 school year, and this week the school board sat down to consider the possibilities that might help the district fill that gap.

The board met Tuesday and Thursday to hear a presentation from the budget committee which included 34 ideas for areas to cut dollars.

One of the first options on the table is to close an elementary school and move the Starkweather Center's Alternative and Adult Education Program into that building.

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If this option is chosen, the school board would identify the elementary school chosen to close at a budget workshop April 5.

Jim Larson-Shidler, the district's director of business services, said the budget committee thinks moving Starkweather is a smart option because it's one of the district's oldest buildings and would result in "the largest savings on utilities and maintenance.

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"The committee estimates closing the elementary school would result in a $700,000 savings for the district.

School board Vice President Dianne Gonzalez voiced her concerns about the impact of closing a school.

"I understand we need to take bigger steps this year," she said, referring to the high budget deficit. "But this is going to be very emotional for parents in the district."

Other ideas presented by the committee for the next school year include staff reductions at the teacher level, increasing class sizes, moving to full-time kindergarten to eliminate noon busing and closing and selling the district's administrative building in downtown Plymouth.

School board members also voiced their concerns about increasing class sizes.

"What I'd have to see to even consider this are the current class-size numbers," said Treasurer Judy Mardigian. "I think if we look at that, we'll see that class sizes in the middle schools and high schools are already really high."

Board member Steven Sneideman agreed.

"I think this will probably be a long discussion over the next few weeks," Sneideman said. "We already have some very full classrooms. This is my fifth year on the board, and by this time I thought we'd be going in the opposite direction and decreasing class sizes."

Board members concede, however, that with a deficit this high, changes need to be made.

“Everything is on the table, absolutely everything,” said board President John Jackson after a budget workshop last week. “We’re going to do what we need to do to remain solvent, as long as it doesn’t affect student achievement.”

The board hopes to adopt the 2011-12 budget during its regular meeting June 28.

There will be several chances for the public to weigh in on the budget cuts, including at a public presentation next Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Discovery Middle School in Canton.


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