Posted: Feb. 17, 2009

Budget projections for the Mequon-Thiensville School District are not overwhelming in the short term but could signal major cuts in programs and services for the longer term.

Superintendent Demond Means and administrative staff prepared projections for the next three school years.

There is a shortfall in each of the three years: $450,000 in the upcoming year, followed by $1 million and $1.1 million in the successive years.

During a School Board meeting Feb. 16, board member Suzette Urbashich said the numbers are just projections that could change.

"State aid, the national economy, student enrollment and the local economy will all have an impact on them," she said.

Maintaining class sizes

Means said district staff made recommendations for possible cuts based on maintaining class sizes.

"The last thing we wanted to do was reduce anything, but we believed we needed to develop a long-term plan," Means said. "The governor has asked districts to make the difficult decisions now."

In order to cover the projected $450,000 shortfall in the projected 2009-10 budget, Means said, one high school position and two paraprofessional positions would be eliminated, along with an energy education program contract and the half-time position that oversees the contract. Flow-through grants for special education would be used to offset some special education costs.

In addition, the district would offer 20 Open Enrollment seats at the high school.

Means said as long as the Open Enrollment students are taking open seats in classrooms, there would be no additional cost to the district and their enrollment would bring revenue, $6,800 per pupil, into the district. The cost spent per pupil in Mequon-Thiensville is more than $11,000, he said.

Looking ahead

Meeting the budget shortfalls in the subsequent budget years would mean deeper cuts in staffing and programs.

For the 2010-11 budget year, the high school writing lab would be eliminated, along with Pursuit gifted and talented program personnel, a full-time teaching position at both the middle and high school levels, the high school social worker and 4.5 instructional media center aides. Athletic fees would increase $25 per year, and of 10 more Open Enrollment seats would be added at the high school to increase revenue.

For the 2011-12 budget shortfall, the district would eliminate three custodians, three teachers, three special education paraprofessionals, a half-time special education case manager and the elementary guidance program, one bus route, building budgets and a district math specialist position, and reduce administrative assistants in all kindergarten through eighth-grade buildings to half time.

The board will hold two meetings in June to discuss and adopt the 2009-10 budget. The board will discuss class sizes Monday, March 16.

 

Mary Buckley can be reached at (262) 446-6615.