The D99 school board meets tonight to consider budget cuts and fee increases, and to hear from parents and students who have organized to speak in support of Andrew Klamm, the North high science teacher who reportedly will not be re-hired for the 2010-11 school year.
The venue of the meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m., was changed to the South High cafetorium to accommodate the expected large audience.
While the Klamm controversy is sparking the most attention, a series of recommended budget modifications should also be of interest to district taxpayers. At its Feb. 1 workshop meeting, the board reviewed potential cuts for 2010-11, including administrative pay raises, the reduction of a counselor at each school, the elimination of summer school busing and an increase of the staff-to-student ratio, among other measures.
The staff-to-student ratio, which would increase from 22:1 to 21.5:1, would result in savings of $300,000. It’s also a step the district eschewed last year, when it resolved to cut $750,000 without changing the historic teacher-student ratio.
In addition, the district is looking to add or raise certain fees, including requiring a non-athletic participation fee for Competitive Marching Band participants and instituting a $200 registration fee for students who take technical classes.
This year’s round of cuts and revenue enhancements are necessitated by the state budget crisis, which has led D99 to plan for a potential $2 million loss in revenue. The amount of the potential loss is the focus of much discussion among the state’s school districts, which could see state aid dip as a result.
D99 has been soliciting the public’s input to the proposed budget cuts and fee increases via a “Community Engagement” button and form on its Web site. The DGreport is still awaiting word on how many responses the district has received via the links.
However, there is no 2010-11 preliminary budget information available on the Web site and the Annual Financial Report for 2009-10 has not yet been posted.
Further, unless members of the public were present for the workshop meeting, they have little recourse to understand the full range of the materials presented and discussed. The Feb. 1 meeting – like more than half the board’s open meetings — was not audio-taped for downloading on the district Web site.
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