Fiscal Position of the District

By Andy Hegedus

The process needs to inculde review of all operational possibilities from the Blue Ribbon Task Force especially the multi-year items. The level of instruction and resources must be detailed and then a revenue plan established to meet the goals.

The first area to examine fully is the districts cost of operations. The Blue Ribbon Task Force provided a very good start in highlighting areas for savings, however, all the ideas that could not be implemented in 3 months were taken off the table. We must go back and revisit those items. Granted some items such as a school closure will be very contentious, but we must provide due diligence to all options if only to educate the community on the cost of education. There are some ideas that could provide moderate savings that should be explored such as a sharing of libraries and maintenance with the city. This process provides a solid footing for moving forward and will bring renewed confidence to the Board and its planning process.

The second part is to review the programs we need to provide the education the community would like and the costs associated with them. This part of the process should not turn into a giant wish list, but rather a disciplined look at our specialist programs and curriculum that is beyond the basic required by the state. The areas here would be literacy, science, math, music, art, and technology.

The last part is to look at enhancing revenue and generally this means a parcel tax. I believe if we do the first two steps well the community will support a tax measure necessary to provide the education desired. But, we must do the first two parts well and in addition provide convincing arguments to the community who only indirectly benefits from superior schools, homeowners without children in the schools and the business community.