Claremore schools preparing for future budget cuts

Reprinted with permission from the Claremore Progress. This article originally appeared on Jun 21, 2016. Support local journalism with a subscription or a day pass for $1.99 :)

Claremore Public Schools Superintendent Michael McClaren on Monday presented a list of potential options to reduce district spending during the next school year.

Decisions on the options presented during Monday’s school board meeting will depend on budget cuts passed down from the Oklahoma Legislature later this year.

“These are just options that the board are considering. Some options are more viable than the others,” said McClaren. “The ball is in the Legislature’s court. They tend to focus more on policy and curriculum than the funding, which should be the first and foremost thing on their mind.”

Some options to reduce spending include reduction in security services, reduced custodial services, a four-day week, not replacing retiring and not-returning teachers, reduction of technology, reduction of 7th grade interscholastic athletics, elimination of Saturday school, reduction in special education and the CEEP program, reductions in the district office, and moving athletics outside of the school day.

McClaren anticipates decisions about education funding will not happen until the last two weeks of May.

“It is usually discussed at the last minute, and not very many good decisions are made during that time,” said McClaren. “I don’t know when they are going to discuss the education budget or how much money they are going to cut. I need them to give me a number and that just has not happened yet.”

Claremore Public Schools is preparing for a five percent to 10 percent budget cut, but school board members are hoping for a better budget than what is being predicted by Oklahoma lawmakers.

“If it is five percent there will be a $1.9 million cut for next year, and if it is as high as 10 percent it could be about $2.4 million. The cut could be anywhere in between, we just don’t know,” said McClaren.

He said Claremore Public Schools could also face another cut this year despite access to the Rainy Day Fund, because collections at the state level are still below projections.

“It is important to note the cut is assuming the five percent is on top of the seven percent we have already endured,” said Rick Mosier, school board member. “We had three percent cut in January, and another four percent in March. So, the $1.9 is really a 12 percent cut, and the five percent cut the speaker is talking about is really a 12 percent. This cut is not just a five percent cut.”

The cuts to education mean that Claremore Public Schools could have to drop funding from $3,018 per student to $2,850 per student.

Currently the temporary appropriations for Claremore Public Schools include $24 million in the General Fund, $1,372,500 in the Building Fund, $1.62 million in the Child Nutrition Fund and $1.3 million in the Co-op Fund.

If the school significantly reduced security it could save $95,000. Reduced custodial services could save $166,542. A four-day week would save $175,000.

“I am not a fan of the four-day week. It would take instructional time to a minimum. One of the reasons our savings with a four-day week is lower than other school districts is because we have contract services, which really helps us already have some savings that other districts do not have,” said McClaren.

He said some reduction in custodial services and treasurer services will be easier to enact than others. Cutting treasurer services will save $18,000.

Not filling 23 certified teaching positions after teachers retire or decide not to return next year would save $1,054,196. Reduction in technology would save about $100,000.

“We would have to go without computers for a year or at the very most lease computers if one breaks. We try to stay away from doing that, but we can surely do it,” he said.

Reducing 7th grade interscholastic athletics would save $15,000. Reducing 12-month site secretaries to 11 months; reducing ROTC Cadre from 12 months to 11 months and eliminating Saturday school could save $26,433.

Reducing special education by three teachers and 15 paraprofessionals would save $483,000, and reducing the CEEP program would save another $124,000.

McClaren said they could also reduce the district office by one full-time salary and a partial salary to save $102,348. Finally, moving athletics outside the school day would save about $187,500.

The school board will make decisions to cut or keep certain services and programs after the state releases an education budget for next year.