Schools Plan to Cut Budget by $6 Million

January 8, 2010

Superintendent Chris Belcher has proposed slashing almost $6 million from Columbia Public Schools’ operating budget to combat an expected decrease in state funding.
 
Belcher yesterday afternoon disclosed the $5.8 million in proposed cuts to a Columbia Board of Education finance committee.

The budget ax would mostly affect the 2010-11 school year. The cuts total about 3.7 percent of the schools’ $158 million operating budget.

The far-reaching, proposed reductions include smaller items — a $7,500 cut by no longer playing the high schools’ Providence Bowl game at Faurot Field — and larger costs such as eliminating 22 secondary positions, including teachers, administrators and support staff.

The proposed cuts also would eliminate positions in a longtime program for teaching elementary science. Those 10 specialists just teach science to fourth- and fifth-graders in a program that has been a part of the school district for at least three decades.

Belcher said this third consecutive year of school budget cuts targets support services that had grown during the past decade, such as outreach counselor positions and instructional aides. “Although these people aren’t essential for the mainline instruction, they’re the ones that intercede,” he said.

Making these proposed cuts sh ould nudge more work back to classroom teachers, Belcher said, such as making phone calls to parents and dealing more with student discipline.

School board member Tom Rose, a member of the finance committee, said the effect of the cuts would be “a decrease in responsiveness to student needs, but we’re not eliminating any programs.”

About $230,000 in proposed cuts already have been made this academic year with the defunding of four full-time equivalency positions for various jobs.

The list is vague when naming the positions that could be cut because district administrators have not identified all the exact positions, Belcher said.

A reduction already in the works for middle schools and junior highs are that they share a school resource officer during the 2010-11 school year, which could save the school district $40,000.

Belcher introduced some proposed cuts by citing equity issues: Some high school departments have secretaries, but other departments do not; therefore, 10 clerical positions would be eliminated, saving $350,000.

Elementary schools have science specialists but no specialists or coaches in language arts or math, Belcher said, so he has proposed cutting all elementary science specialists.

Rose signaled his approval to Belcher’s proposals.

“I think it’s a plan that looks to be fair and kind of increase our efficiency,” he said.

As in past years, the cuts also reduce the amount of stipends and extra-day contracts that some teachers can receive.

This year’s cuts differ from previous years’ reductions in that school administrators did not recommend fully funding the teachers’ salary schedule, though Belcher’s budget does. The salary schedule awards teachers for years worked and for furthering the ir education. The 2010-11 budget contains about $2.8 million to fund the salary schedule.

“We have framed this whole discussion around efficiency, equity and reorganization,” Belcher said.