Dist. 300 program cuts OK'd

The Community Unit District 300 school board approved a laundry list of program reductions, a step toward cutting about $8.5 million from its 2011-2012 budget.

School board members on Monday eliminated about 10 percent from programs from athletics to transportation.

Among the eliminations were teaching and staff positions in the district's Preschool for All, a state-funded program. The program, which is intended to provide students that are at a high risk of academic failure a solid foundation for their educational careers, includes about 23 teachers and paraprofessionals.

Although school board members did not support cutting the program, district leaders said the decision needed to be made in order to meet deadlines in notifying employees of staff reductions.

“This is a contingency,” school board President Joe Stevens said. “Nobody wants to see the program cut, but it is not a state-mandated program, the part we are cutting and we have to find a way to reach our financial goals.

Should the district find another source of revenue or the state comes through with funding, the district will reinstate the program, district leaders said. For now, the district will release all of the program's staff but a vote at a later date would be needed in order to eliminate the program entirely.

District spokeswoman Allison Strupeck said the district is currently paying $1 million out-of-pocket to provide the program.

A number of Preschool for All parents and educators spoke out about the $1 million cut.

“Me and my children would be lost without it,” said Gia Larsen, whose son and daughter both attended DeLacey. “We need it to not only educate our children, but to survive.”

In addition, the school board voted 4-3 to cut $135,598 from sports and extracurricular activities.

“Our job is to educate our kids in reading, writing and math,” school board member Monica Clarke said. “I would rather have two more teachers in the classroom than kids out there playing baseball.”

Board members, however, rejected a proposal to increase registration fees across the board. The increase would have added about $5 to each registration fee. The district has not raised registration fees in five years.

The district is attempting to trim $8.5 million from the upcoming budget, About $5.2 million of those reductions are in wage and benefit and insurance concessions. The board and employment groups have not finalized those concessions.