Fifth through eighth grade band, sixth through ninth grade sports, all other sixth through eighth grade extracurriculars, seventh and eighth grade music, field trips, and overnight trips are all potential cuts being looked at by Unit 5 for the 2023/2024 school year in light of the school districts current financial status given the failure of its tax referendum in the fall and no certainty that it will pass in the spring.
“It’s upsetting to think about these cuts,” board member Jeremy DeHaai stated at Wednesday’s board meeting, “But we need to act. So … I think we need to look at any and everything and any at all opportunities to make cuts.”
“As much as I hate to see it,” DeHaai said later, “I think we need to cut Schedule B at elementary/junior high levels.
Schedule B activities are extracurricular opportunities. These include club, music and sports activities . Schedule B extra curriculars were cut at the elementary level this year. As a matter of consistency the board added elementary co-curriculars (fifth and sixth grade band) to the list as well. Ninth grade sports were added to the list as were field trips and overnight trips.
This approach is consistent from feedback the district has heard from residents during the past year. Residents top two priorities were don’t increase class sizes and don’t cut staff. By default this forces the district to look at cuts to extracurriculars and co-curriculars. These cuts could total $1 million.
The district is also considering raising revenue by doubling school fees for 2023/2024. That could possibly raise $1.5 million in revenue.
But these cuts and additional revenue would only total $2.5 million when the district’s structural budget deficit is $12 million a year and forecast to go up to $20 million by fiscal year (FY) 2026/2027.
Beyond 2023/2024 cuts would have to impact class sizes and staff. Staff is 85% of the districts budget. And larger class sizes require fewer staff members.
With that in mind looking another year or two down the road the board is considering eliminating all electives at the junior high level. These classes have smaller class sizes and are not efficient from a staff cost standpoint.
Maximizing class sizes also puts consolidation on the table. In that vein closing Carlock Elementary School is being discussed. The school has only approximately 100 students. They could be distributed to other schools. As a result administration costs could be reduced as well as building maintenance costs. Staff at the school would be able to relocate within the district.
And that leads to more possible future changes. Redistricting may be necessary.
In fact economic reality could force philosophical changes in the district. Currently the school uses a neighborhood school model. Under this system teachers at the same grade level work as teams to plan work and actively seek to get to know all of the students in each grade.
Cat and Kevin’s Top Stories for 2022 Number 2 Unit 5 Referendum
But economics may require the school district to change its philosophy to an attendance center philosophy. With this philosophy kindergarten students for example might be grouped at a certain center. At say the junior high level instead of teachers getting to know everyone at a grade level things would revert back to where a math teacher would teach math to more than one grade. There would be no teams, no team planning and less staff.
Superintendent Kristen Weikle summed up much of the frustration those involved in this issue have with the situation saying, “I know staff gets it. I know the board gets it. I know our regular attendees at board meetings get it.”
“But unfortunately,” Weikle continued, “not everybody chooses to watch our ‘exciting’ board meetings or attend in person. So some people they truly maybe haven’t heard that we have an education fund deficit. And that’s why some of us say we can’t cut our way out completely because we have already addressed the really big ticket items.”
At this point Weikle will work with her staff to determine how much might be saved by the proposed 2023/2024 cuts. She will report back to the board. A special board meeting is being planned for Tuesday January 31st to discuss the proposed cuts further with the information prepared by Weikle in hand.