Dist. 220 narrows list of budget cuts

Barrington Unit District 220 board members Tuesday identified more than $1.9 million in potential budget cuts in their quest to spend $2 million less next school year.

However, board members cautioned their interested and attentive audience that their picking and choosing from a list of possible cuts was simply a first pass, and their choices could change more than once before a final decision in March.

Among the parents, students and teachers who spoke at the meeting, the two largest groups spoke in favor of protecting gifted programs and adding a fourth classroom for next year’s fourth grade students Barbara Rose Elementary School.

Board members acknowledged that their first pass through the budgeting process did not meet the request of the Rose School parents. The tentative plan for next year is to add a fourth classroom for third grade but to have only three classrooms for next year’s fourth grade.

Superintendent Tom Leonard said there were ways to grant the Rose School parents their request, but it could create an even higher cost.

One option would detract from the music curriculum at the school, while another would involve moving the school’s special ed classroom to another school in the district.

Leonard said Rose School does have the largest classroom sizes among the district’s third grades, but that other schools have the larger class sizes at other grade levels.

The board is aiming to finalize budget cuts over the next few weeks so that if layoffs become necessary noncertified staff can be notified by March 1 and certified staff by March 15.

The reason for the cuts is the financial uncertainty the district faces from both the economy and the level and timing of its state funding.

“We’ve been in a budget reduction mode for a number of years now,” Leonard said.

Board President Brian Battle said one of the challenges of this now annual process is that the district must make decisions at a time when it’s less than fully informed about the following year’s costs and revenues.

Board Member Jeff Church said he and his colleagues would love to take a year or two off from the process, but that sacrificing some positions is how the district hopes to avoid sacrificing whole programs.

Among the criteria the board has tried to apply to the process is reducing any negative impact to the district’s classroom instruction, co-curricular activities and adherence to state and federal requirements.

The board will continue its discussion of budget cuts at its next meeting on Feb. 15.