District 161 cuts could include staff, bus routes

• Reprints

Updated: February 28, 2012 8:21AM

Summit Hill District 161 Supt. Barb Rains Wednesday night presented more details on one of the options the school board can use to eliminate a $2.5 million operating budget shortfall.

The cost-cutting option focuses on switching from a full-day to a half-day kindergarten program, eliminating bus routes, increasing class size and cutting the stipends to staff members who oversee extracurricular programs.

Other options presented at past board meetings included closing Mary Drew School, 20130 S. Rosewood Drive, Frankfort, which serves first- through fourth-graders. The district has a surplus of classrooms due to declining enrollment and could consolidate facilities, Rains said. However, parents attending a Jan. 12 town hall meeting opposed the closure saying Drew has the highest test scores in the district.

A referendum question seeking a property tax hike is another option that has been mentioned.

At Wednesday’s school board meeting presentation attended by 75 residents, Rains said changing to half-day kindergarten would save $450,000.

Adding three students to each classroom would reduce the number of sections needed at each grade level, saving $300,000, Rains said. Also, a reduction of stipends to staff members running after-school clubs would save $27,500. Administrative restructuring, which was not detailed specifically, would provide an additional savings of $200,000.

Reducing bus routes for activities and daily routes that are less than 1.5 miles from the schools would cut $235,000 in expenditures, Rains said.

Restructuring itinerant programs would reduce spending by another $570,000 and a reduction in the purchase of consumables could save $92,250, she said.

At Wednesday’s meeting, parent Jen Vargas said she is opposed to the referendum option.

“I am confident that you are going to find a way to make this work, without raising property taxes. I pay almost $11,000 in property taxes. A lot of people have lost jobs and have had their homes foreclosed. My mother pays $2,700 in property taxes, for a third of an acre in Indiana,” she said.

A community forum on the various budget options was slated to be held Thursday night.

Board member Sean Doyle suggested the community also be involved in a financial advisory committee. He said such a committee would provide transparency. He said the school board’s finance committee has morning meetings which make them hard for residents to attend.

“You are putting the convenience of the committee members over transparency to the community,” Doyle said.

After heated discussion among board members, Doyle’s motion was voted down 5 to 1.