Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Budget Cuts
The Fremont Re-2 School District, along with every other district in the state, is faced with the task of cutting the budget. Although the exact amout of how much will have to be cut for Re-2 is still not known, the expectation is somewhere between 660,000 to 1.1 million dollars. Please respond to this post as to what you feel the district can do to meet the necessary cuts and still provide adequate services to students.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Honestly, there's no point in making it a four day school week. Being a student, (With amazing typing skills, of course) I know that the hours we have are ENOUGH. It'd be next to impossible to pay attention for a good hour or so more. Although I don't understand why we have to cut budgets, I can see your delema. I'd suggest trying the four-day week out for a week, because you won't really know what everyone thinks about it until it's been tried. Maybe it'll be great, or maybe you'll see dropping grades.
ReplyDeleteAs for cutting budgets, I don't have much thoughts on that. I could try to think of something, but it doesn't seem likely. The idea of dropping electives horrifies me, so I wouldn't suggest that. One thing I might suggest, however, if it would work, is allowing off-campus lunch. Seems 'impractical' as many teachers and principals have said, but it could actually help with your budget situation. Instead of paying for a student's lunch, which may or may not have the school loosing money, you could offer off-campus as well as cold lunch and hot lunch from the school. I won't even suggest getting cheaper lunches, because some of them are bad enough already. Anyhow, there are lots of other creative ways to cut budgets other than four day weeks. I think most students agree with me when they say they don't want to spend extra hours at school.
4-day school week; an across-the-board cut for all school district employees..so that the pain is spread across the district rather than a hand full of areas or personnel; staff ratio reduction where practical and necessary; reduce the number of buildings that are used and thus require maintenance, upkeep and heating/cooling; make Penrose and Florence Elementary Schools K-6 and absorb the 7-8th graders in a wing of the high school; ask the public for donations rather than to approve a tax hike...many would balk at a tax increase but may be willing to donate 20 or 30 dollars apiece to help maintain important programs and good teachers; reduce the number of bus stops.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see the entire budget posted so everybody can see how all the money is spent. So we as a community can make a an educated decision rather than a educated guess.
ReplyDeleteBEing a parent and a student from a town that had and still has a four day week. It really works!!! Honestly the extra time gives children the time to get that homework done that they seem to think is not important or think that there is no time for. It gives the opportunity to talk to the teachers, since most leave or are not available after school hours. Doing this ensures extra time for games, sports and extra activities that slim the weekends and make for an unmotivated week. The time is not really that big of a difference. The only part that becomes hard on a four day week is finding the care for the younger childern on Fridays.
ReplyDeleteFor budget cost go to the districs finacial manager and they will have the ledger and books of brake downs. As for the budget monitoring there should be a need to govern in a way that ensures the money is spent correctly.
ReplyDeleteA comment was posted here about placing the entire budget online. When will that be completed? If not, why? Also, could you please update your school board minutes. The last board minutes were on June 14, 2010.
ReplyDeleteIs there a possibility that all board minutes could be archived so the public can view them?
ReplyDeleteThere was a post dated Septemeber 17, 2010 about board archives so us, the public, can view the minutes.
ReplyDeleteThat has not been answered.
Also, the board minutes have not been updated in two months.
We don't think it should take that much of an effort to update the board minutes.
Thank you.
Use some of the $3 million dollars still in the bond fund.
ReplyDeleteHaving read Mr. Droll's comment about the 4-day week just not saving enough in his opinion to justify the hardship put on parents and students, I have this to say: It is okay to cut staff and programs to the bare minimum to reach their goals. Doesn't he feel that cutting staff and programs as well as increasing staff to student ratio is far and away more detrimental to students? The $100,000 saved by going to a 4-day week would save 2 staff members and probably 2 aides who directly instruct our students.
ReplyDeleteSince we are probably the only school district of its size in the state of Colorado who has an assistant principal (dean of students) at the elementary level as well as a full-time curriculum director as well as 5-6 reading specialists who do very little in the district, it seems to me that administration is where heavy cuts in the budget could be made!!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete...and Merriam is gone. Along with others who needed to go...
ReplyDeleteHow many people do we have that do nothing but watch other people? We have the top dog that watches the principals and the principals that watch the ass. principals and they watch the counselors and finally the teachers and the teacher helpers that do all the work. The people making the least amount of money do most of the work. I have even been helping in the classroom when something like a head teacher was watching the kid's teacher. When I went to school, we had one head dog and a principal in each school. A principal should be able to watch a school of 500 students. When a student is being bad, send them home. We need those principals that were not friends to the studnet, but the boss. If a student can not follow the rules they should be kick out, and all those parents that want their child to be taken special care find another place because I am tired of paying for kids that do not want to be at school or are brats. Outsource them to another country with the parent. Stop watching everyone and let teachers teach and students learn. Forget all the special junk not needed. We had no head teachers, no counselors, no ass. principals, and no teacher helpers. We had 28-32 students in each classroom. We do not have the money for all these people. Put them in the classroom or they need to go some place else to work. I pay too much in taxes to pay for people to watch or talk or play games with one student. Students follow the rules or get out. Parents be your kids first teacher and make your kid do their homework.
ReplyDelete"I pay too much in taxes to pay for people to watch or talk or play games with one student".
ReplyDeleteHow much do you pay in taxes? Do you even know?
You need to work on your spelling and grammar and worry less about your taxes.
If you don't like the amount of taxes you are paying then move.
ReplyDeleteIt is not that I don't like the amount of taxes that I am paying it is how they are being used. In this school district I see many people who are so-called experts doing just what the one reader said, doing nothing while others do all the work. In addition our school district has lost some 250 students over the last few years. They have layed off many teachers and aides but have yet to lay off any administration. In fact they have added administrators. Also if you really want to see how they put your tax dollars to work go see the folly on the hill known as Florence High School.
ReplyDelete