Post by title1parent on May 6, 2009 5:22:09 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1560208,2_1_AU06_OSSKLBUD_S1.article
Budget cuts eyed in Oswego as officials try to avoid layoffs
May 6, 2009
By DAVID GARBE For The Beacon News
OSWEGO -- The School Board has taken its first look at potential budget cuts for next year, detailing ways to eliminate nearly $1 million in spending without firing any employees.
The proposed cuts include leaving some staff vacancies unfilled, cutting bus routes and restructuring staff development time so that fewer substitute teachers will be needed.
Possible cuts
The Oswego School District is considering several ways to pare its budget:
• Leave three administrative and three janitorial jobs vacant -- $295,000 savings
• Eliminate five bus routes currently contracted out to private bus company -- $200,000 savings
• Change the staff development process to keep teachers in class and reduce need for substitutes -- $200,000 savings
• Have department chairmen and assistant athletic directors teach more classes -- $100,000 savings
• Eliminate out-of-state travel for professional development -- $50,000 savings
• Reduce photocopying -- $40,000 savings
• Cut field trips by 50 percent -- $30,000 savings
District staff has been creating a number of budget cut scenarios, Finance Director Kris Monn told School Board members this week.
"The one we're bringing before you is the most staff-friendly. No current employees would lose a job," Monn said.
The cuts Monn outlined were merely for discussion purposes, and the board will have several months before it must decide how to balance the budget for next school-year.
Budget discussions at this stage are somewhat speculative, as the district does not yet know what its expenses are likely to be.
The district's biggest expense -- salaries for unionized employees -- remains an unknown. Contract negotiations are under way between the district and the unions that represent its teachers, bus drivers and custodians.
Depending on the salary and benefit packages those negotiations produce, Monn predicts the district will be facing a shortfall of more than $1 million.
That deficit includes several million in cuts the district has already committed to making for next year: deferring $2 million in technology purchases, freezing salaries of administrative personnel to save about $250,000, and eliminating seven new teaching positions it had hoped to create.
The district is also hoping to receive $450,000 in special education funds as part of the federal stimulus package, which will replace an equivalent sum that the district has already budgeted to improve Oswego's special ed curriculum.
Between that shot of extra revenue and the cuts already on the table, Monn said the district should be able to balance its budget for next year if union negotiations don't produce any unexpected costs.
The budget picture looks much bleaker for the 2010-11 school year, however, when the district is projected to fall an additional $6 million short due to stagnant property taxes.
Assuming that kind of deficit materializes, the district will be forced to take much more drastic measures, including layoffs.
Board member John Graff said the district would be shortsighted if it didn't face up to that looming crisis immediately.
He said that making minimal cuts this year when they know they'll have to cut much more in the future is like "putting a Band-Aid on something that needs stitches."
As much as everyone hates to consider firing employees, Graff said, the board should consider the possibility as a way of shrinking the projected deficit.
Budget cuts eyed in Oswego as officials try to avoid layoffs
May 6, 2009
By DAVID GARBE For The Beacon News
OSWEGO -- The School Board has taken its first look at potential budget cuts for next year, detailing ways to eliminate nearly $1 million in spending without firing any employees.
The proposed cuts include leaving some staff vacancies unfilled, cutting bus routes and restructuring staff development time so that fewer substitute teachers will be needed.
Possible cuts
The Oswego School District is considering several ways to pare its budget:
• Leave three administrative and three janitorial jobs vacant -- $295,000 savings
• Eliminate five bus routes currently contracted out to private bus company -- $200,000 savings
• Change the staff development process to keep teachers in class and reduce need for substitutes -- $200,000 savings
• Have department chairmen and assistant athletic directors teach more classes -- $100,000 savings
• Eliminate out-of-state travel for professional development -- $50,000 savings
• Reduce photocopying -- $40,000 savings
• Cut field trips by 50 percent -- $30,000 savings
District staff has been creating a number of budget cut scenarios, Finance Director Kris Monn told School Board members this week.
"The one we're bringing before you is the most staff-friendly. No current employees would lose a job," Monn said.
The cuts Monn outlined were merely for discussion purposes, and the board will have several months before it must decide how to balance the budget for next school-year.
Budget discussions at this stage are somewhat speculative, as the district does not yet know what its expenses are likely to be.
The district's biggest expense -- salaries for unionized employees -- remains an unknown. Contract negotiations are under way between the district and the unions that represent its teachers, bus drivers and custodians.
Depending on the salary and benefit packages those negotiations produce, Monn predicts the district will be facing a shortfall of more than $1 million.
That deficit includes several million in cuts the district has already committed to making for next year: deferring $2 million in technology purchases, freezing salaries of administrative personnel to save about $250,000, and eliminating seven new teaching positions it had hoped to create.
The district is also hoping to receive $450,000 in special education funds as part of the federal stimulus package, which will replace an equivalent sum that the district has already budgeted to improve Oswego's special ed curriculum.
Between that shot of extra revenue and the cuts already on the table, Monn said the district should be able to balance its budget for next year if union negotiations don't produce any unexpected costs.
The budget picture looks much bleaker for the 2010-11 school year, however, when the district is projected to fall an additional $6 million short due to stagnant property taxes.
Assuming that kind of deficit materializes, the district will be forced to take much more drastic measures, including layoffs.
Board member John Graff said the district would be shortsighted if it didn't face up to that looming crisis immediately.
He said that making minimal cuts this year when they know they'll have to cut much more in the future is like "putting a Band-Aid on something that needs stitches."
As much as everyone hates to consider firing employees, Graff said, the board should consider the possibility as a way of shrinking the projected deficit.