By Jolene Farley
The Hills-Beaver Creek Board of Education finalized a proposed budget reduction plan to recoup a shortfall of more than $100,000 in revenue for next year at a Monday evening meeting.
About $60,000 of the reductions were going to happen regardless of the shortfall, according to Superintendent Tom Knoll. "There are no reductions in any education programs," he said.
The district plans to continue the gifted and talented programs and add reading time with certified teachers. Reduced enrollment in some areas meant the district could reduce costs in other areas.
Reductions total $124,645 of which $15,000 was added back in for childcare leave costs, bringing the total down to $109,645.
At the secondary level, a teacher retirement, which will not be filled, freed up $36,269. The athletic program took a $1,000 cut.
At the elementary level, the projections for next years kindergarten class of 19 students is down from this year.
One kindergarten teaching position will be cut, saving the district $33,563. Smaller classes reduce time in music, physical education and computer classes, saving $1,635.
A reduction of a full-time teacher to a half-time teacher for the third grade saves $17,738.
Restructuring teaching assistant time frees up another $16,000.
Juggling custodial time and a reduction in total lunchtime saves another $2,367.
District office cuts include turning down the thermostat, a full-time payroll employee dropping to half-time payroll, saving $14,300, and reduction of staff and custodians for 10 days in July adding $1,773.
The payroll employee had previously planned to drop to half time, according to Knoll.
The total cuts for the secondary school are $37,269, for the elementary $71,303 and for the district office $16,073. The grand total is $124,645.
"We are maintaining what we have," said Knoll.
The board stressed that additions could be made if required.
In other board business:
oThe building committee met with Group II Architects to walk through the proposed building site and express likes and dislikes. It was "just basically a starting point," according to board member Ann Boeve.
oNegotiations continue with teachers concerning severance packages. Teachers are asking that a formula, based on years of service and salary, be used to determine the amount of post-retirement insurance benefits for which they would be eligible.
The majority of the board members didn’t seem to favor adding the formula to the contracts. "We are trying to watch our pennies here, and it just doesn’t seem right," said Lois Leuthold, board member.