Manheim Township school cuts detailed - Lancaster Online 2/3/2011

Manheim Township school cuts detailed
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Feb 03, 2011 23:19

By BRIAN WALLACE, Staff Writer

Fewer elective courses, longer bus rides with fewer stops and schools staffed only part-time with librarians are among the changes Manheim Township School District students could experience next year if the district implements a series of budget cuts proposed Thursday.

District administrators outlined the long list of cost savings, totaling about $3.3 million, at a public hearing on the district's 2011-12 budget.

About 200 people turned out to hear about the cuts, which officials said are necessary to meet an expected revenue shortfall of $3.5 million to $4.5 million next year.

The reductions would be implemented across departments and would affect all district schools. Six staff positions would be eliminated, and several others would go unfilled.

Superintendent Gene Freeman said the cuts are necessary to offset increasing expenditures and decreasing revenues resulting from the weak economy.

The school board has voted to limit any tax increase in next year's budget to 1.4 percent, the base index mandated under Act 1.

Without the cuts, the district would have to raise taxes by 8 percent to balance the budget, an "outrageous" move "that would not be tolerated," Joe Kurjiaka, the district's chief operating officer, told the crowd.

Under the proposal outlined Thursday, six teachers and two librarians retiring at the end of the year would not be replaced, and the district would eliminate an additional librarian, an elementary teacher and three teachers' aides.

Those reductions would save about $725,000 in salaries and benefits.

The administration also has proposed cutting by half the stipends for coaches and advisers for extracurricular activities to save an estimated $378,000.

Among the other proposed cuts and projected savings are:

• Reorganizing the administrative department and reducing the secretarial staff through retirements — $447,000.

• Reducing the district's technology, plant services and business office budgets — $190,000.

• Cutting by half the stipends for curriculum consultants, technology integrators, content specialists and teacher mentors — $118,000.

• Eliminating three bus runs and reducing activity buses to two days a week — $135,000.

• Cutting custodial staff hours — $105,000.

• Freezing administrative pay — $87,000.

The district also has proposed eliminating under-enrolled music and technology education electives and delaying by a year, from fourth grade to fifth, the start of instrumental music instruction.

Those changes would save about $185,000.

Freeman said the administration has spent hours poring over the proposed cuts, a process he described as "difficult for all of us."

"I'm going to tell you, I have lost more sleep over this than I have over snow days, and I lose a lot of sleep over snow days," he said. "These are tough decisions we're having to make."

Freeman said the administration sought to implement cuts that would not threaten Manheim Township's "robust academic program."

To that end, he defended the decision to press ahead with a new International Baccalaureate program at the high school and full-day kindergarten next year, despite concerns from residents that now is not the time for the district to be expanding its programs.

Freeman said full-day kindergarten will save the district in the long run by better preparing students for later grades, and the IB program will strengthen the Manheim Township "brand."

Kurjiaka said the administration has more work to do on cutting expenses. If all the cuts outlined Thursday were implemented, he said, the district still would need to cut about $300,000 in expenditures to keep a tax increase within the 1.4 percent limit.

The district will host another budget hearing at 7 p.m. March 3 in the high school auditorium.

The school board has yet to vote on a preliminary budget. A final spending plan must be adopted by June.

bwallace@lnpnews.com
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