Dist. 220 gets specific about budget cuts

Barrington Unit District 220 board members Wednesday began talking about specific staff reductions for next year as part of their aim to cut between $1 million and $1.5 million from the budget.

But they also opted to freeze student fees for another year and to make no cuts to the stipends paid to faculty who oversee extracurricular activities.

While discussions are still ongoing and the list of cuts not finished, the board chose to eliminate eight classroom teachers and two reading teachers from among the district's eight elementary schools.

They also opted to cut a crisis interventionist at each of the two middle schools as well as a teaching assistant from somewhere in the district.

The crisis interventionists as well as the teaching assistant are from among the district's special education staff.

Some board members had suggested making no cuts to special ed in case changing requirements forced them to hire people back just before the start of next school year.

But board members were ultimately persuaded to make the cuts given the two contingency positions usually built into each budget.

This is the second year in a row in which District 220 has had to make significant cuts to its budget. Last year, the district eliminated the equivalent of 14 full-time positions as well as $745,000 in non-personnel costs.

Last year's top financial concern was the crash of the economy and its direct effect on district revenues. This year, the district is struggling more with the increasing lateness of the state's payments.

"In this round of cuts, we're certainly reacting to financial pressures," board President Brian Battle said. "We're reacting to what we hope is a short-term financial issue."

As such, Battle said the main hope is to keep cuts to actual programs to a minimum.

That was why most board members balked at the option of cutting up to $60,000 in stipends that would cause a number of afterschool clubs and activities at Barrington High School to be cut.

A couple board members argued that these clubs are where some students find their main connections in high school, as well as discovering lifelong passions.