School budget crisis calls for sacrifices

Sisters Schools Superintendent Elaine Drakulich presented a budget on Wednesday night that calls for $1,688,500 in cuts.

Those cuts -forced by reduced state revenue and declining enrollment -mean some significant sacrifices in the district. The media managers (librarians) in each of the three schools are slated to lose their positions to save the district $152,500 in salaries and benefits.

Teachers, administrators and other staff members are going to be asked to bear the cost of making up $168,600 through reductions or freezes in salaries and benefits, cuts to work days or through a reduction in force (RIF).

The district will have to negotiate with the associations that represent the certified and classified employees for any cuts to salaries and benefits, or to reduce school days.

Those negotiations should remain open to the public. The Sisters community has stepped up to support Sisters schools through the local option tax levy and the public needs to have a clear understanding of how the district arrives at decisions regarding the community's investment.

So far, the district has done an excellent job of bringing the broader community to the table so that we can work together to weather a financial crisis that may yet get worse.

As the district negotiates with its staff, a key principle must be kept at the forefront: As a parent said at Wednesday's budget meeting, if kids aren't in the classroom, they're not learning anything.

Instructional days should be preserved at all costs - the last thing to be cut.

We have to realize that we're asking our teachers, and other dedicated district employees, whether they'd rather be poked in the right eye or the left eye with a sharp stick. Nobody is eager to see their pay cut, either directly or through the loss of work days, and nobody is eager to receive a pink slip.

Unfortunately, these days that kind of pain is widespread.

The district should first look at cutting non-instructional work days -times when kids are out of school while staff is working. Any RIF must be designed to keep the best teachers - regardless of seniority - and avoid cutting too deeply into the breadth of programs.

It is ultimately going to be up to the employee associations to decide whether there is a pay cut or a reduction in force or how the two might be combined.

None of this is appealing. But when more than 80 percent of the budget is in personnel, there are few ways to make up a shortfall other than in personnel costs. We can only hope that the revenue picture improves, or at least doesn't get any worse.

It's painful to ask dedicated employees to bear the burden of this budget crisis. But it is the duty of the school board to make tough decisions. They must do their best to preserve the programs that make Sisters schools the quality schools they are - and to keep students in the classroom, working with their teachers.

Jim Cornelius, Editor