SAVE CEO and PRE-K Expansion

4/30/07

Dear School Supporters,

The JCC Board of Supervisors, while a providing significant funding increase, left the schools' proposed operating budget with a $1.75 million shortfall.

This Tuesday, May 1, the School Board will take on the difficult job of deciding what areas of the proposed budget to cut to make up the difference. It’s time for you to tell the School Board what you think. Click here to send them a message.

We hope you will take a moment (if you have not already) to ask the School Board, at a minimum, to SAVE CEO and PRE-K EXPANSION. The community has spoken loud and long that these priorities must be maintained.

With existing funds or expected revenue, the administration indicates it could fund $418,000 worth of textbooks and instructional materials, reducing the cuts needed to $1.3 million.

Identifying $1.3 million of additional reductions would allow:

1) the Center for Educational Opportunities (CEO) to continue as is (where it would run is unclear, though the old Jamestown Academy could likely accommodate it with no trailer costs),

2) PreK expansion for 45 at-risk children,

3) a reorganization of the Multicultural Affairs Office to implement the recommendations of the Minority Achievement Tase Force accepted by the School Board, and

4) a full-time math coordinator and part-time fine art coordinator.

The School Board does have an option to fund a scaled-back CEO program with 5 full-time teachers that could be run in trailers at Eastern State (though moving the trailers would cost $330,000, the School Board does likely have these funds in its capital reserves). This scaled-back version would save about $450,000 from the operating budget and may be the only option left to save the daytime CEO program if space is not available elsewhere.

Just a few places this board and previous boards have looked to make up shortfalls:
* reduce the operations budget
* reduce the academic services budget
* reduce cost center allocations by a percentage of non-salary items
* reduce out-of-state travel
* increase the estimate of savings for people retiring

While making up the shortfall is not easy, the School Board needs to look closely at places to cut, as far away from the students as possible, in order to fund these important priorities.

Thank you for supporting our schools.

Mike Ludwick