School Board in a Bind Over Proposed State Budget

The Woodland Hills School Board meeting Wednesday night followed its typical agenda -- a call to order featuring the Pledge of Allegiance, district announcements and presentations of action on school finance issues.

But, instead of continuing with the meeting as usual, Superintendent Walter Calinger took some time to discuss

The decrease would cut the district's budget by 20.7 percent to $4.3 million.

Calinger mentioned some possible options the board could look into to meet the reduced budget. Those include reviewing the utilization of buildings in light of declining enrollment and rezoning, reviewing all of the current programs offered in the district and reviewing the cost associated with substitute teachers.

“We are not going to get the budget we need by changing paper or paper clips,” he said to the board. “We have to make major changes.”

Corbett suggested schools across the state to issue a pay freeze in employee salaries to save money. Calinger said this would save Woodland Hills anywhere from $900,000 to $1 million.

But even with a freeze, the school would have to additionally save more than $3 million.

The board said a tax increase is not an option because of the slow economy.

The board agreed to set a date to host a public discussion of potential budget options by Friday. In June, the board will have its regular meeting to pass the budget for the 2011-12 school year.

Although the proposed budget cuts were not a surprise, the numbers mentioned initially were lower, anywhere from an eight percent to 18 percent decrease, School Board President Marilyn Messina said. The actual cuts could be almost three percent higher than expected.

School Board Vice President Regis Driscoll worried Calinger’s option to review the use of buildings could mean school closings. Two years ago, Rankin Elementary closed and the building is still empty. Driscoll said the communities in the area, including Rankin and Braddock, are hurting and leaving abandoned school buildings is not helping.  

“We have to take in consideration [the community’s] problems too -- these communities are getting racked,” he said to the board.

But even with a decreased budget, Calinger mentioned starting a study plan to incorporate a new academy into the district in 2013.

“Anytime you have to cut back, it doesn’t mean you don’t make progress,” Calinger said. “But we can’t do everything we are doing and do [the new academy] too.”

The cuts brought up conflicts with adding other new programs and renovations to the district. The board briefly questioned permitting a Club Lacrosse Team at no cost to the school and debated on renovating the high school’s media center using a capitol bond from 2005. The board passed both actions.

Still, Driscoll said the budget is going to set Woodland Hills back, even after the district made big steps to improve the quality of education.

“The governor has done everything he said he was going to do and it requires a call for action that will hurt,” Calinger said. “We want to do what’s best for the kids and we are going to do it within the budget we are given and our quality of education is going to go up.”