District 300 to maintain current gym standards

Because it would not meet state requirements, a proposal that would have reduced physical education for elementary school students in Community Unit District 300 has been dropped, district officials said Wednesday.

The proposed reduction was among the recommendations a committee of board members and administrators made last week in an effort to trim the district's budget.

"We're already at the minimum level, so we really can't cut," board President Joe Stevens said, adding that the information the committee initially received was inaccurate. "We're still going to look at (cutting) the aides on the buses and the gifted program."

State law requires daily physical education in public schools, except under specific circumstances and when school districts obtain a waiver, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

The panel of district officials recommended eliminating physical education for kindergartners, reducing by 30 minutes a week physical education for grades one through five, eliminating bus aides for preschoolers who lack special needs and eliminating the gifted program.

Together, the recommendations could have saved more than $1 million, said Stevens, who served on the committee. The physical education reductions alone could have saved an estimated $432,000.

The district will not have to find another area to cut now that physical education has been taken off the table because federal stimulus funds and state education dollars should tide the district over for a year, officials said.

But officials say short-term stimulus money should not be used to balance the budget and that they need to make some cuts to avoid asking voters to approve another tax increase. The last tax hike passed in 2006.

Despite the budget situation, parents have questioned the district's priorities, saying the gifted program should not be on the chopping block.

The school board is scheduled to discuss the proposed cuts June 8, with a vote on the recommendations set for June 22, Stevens said.

Because of contractual issues with district employees, the district cannot ax the gifted program until the 2010-11 school year, while the bus aides, who work for a contractor, could lose their jobs as soon as the fall, Stevens said.

The panel has also asked administrators to consider increasing the average class size by one student to an estimated $1.5 million.