School board scales back budget cuts.Byline: ANNE WILLIAMS The Register-Guard SPRINGFIELD Springfield. 1 City (1990 pop. 105,227), state capital and seat of Sangamon co., central Ill., on the Sangamon River; settled 1818, inc. as a city 1840. - While acknowledging that it's it's 1. Contraction of it is. 2. Contraction of it has. See Usage Note at its. it's it is or it has it's be ~have still a guessing game, Springfield School Board members on Monday Monday: see week. agreed that a proposed 2002-03 budget that would have slashed slash v. slashed, slash·ing, slash·es v.tr. 1. To cut or form by cutting with forceful sweeping strokes: slash a path through the underbrush. 2. almost $6.7 million from the general fund was probably a bit too pessimistic pes·si·mism n. 1. A tendency to stress the negative or unfavorable or to take the gloomiest possible view: "We have seen too much defeatism, too much pessimism, too much of a negative approach" . Based on a rebalancing Rebalancing The process of realigning the weightings of one's portfolio of assets. Notes: For example, if your portfolio's proportion of stock has grown too large for your intended assets weightings and risk tolerance, you might rebalance by selling some stock and putting proposal passed by the Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 57,000. The House meets at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem. over the weekend, the board agreed to bring back to the table next Monday a revised draft budget that trims just $3.3 million instead. "If you had to list (the Legislature's) priorities right now, I think schools are really No. 1," finance director Brett n. 1. Same as Britzska. Yancey told the board. The school district budget committee took a dimmer dim·mer n. 1. A rheostat or other device used to vary the intensity of an electric light. 2. a. A parking light on a motor vehicle. b. A low beam. view late last month. Saying they could not ignore the failure of a statewide school bailout bailout The financial rescue of a faltering business or other organization. Government guarantees for loans made to Chrysler Corporation constituted a bailout. measure on the May 21 primary election ballot, members approved a spending plan that would have eliminated sports and extracurricular activities at middle schools and trimmed them at high schools; cut 8.4 teaching positions, 18.25 classified positions and 5.5 administrative positions; and ended elementary orchestra, among other reductions. Superintendent Jamon Kent had recommended a plan that cut only $3 million, although his plan included many of those same reductions. Through a combination of unanticipated savings, delaying some payments and reconfiguring priorities, the board was able to restore nearly all of those cuts in the revised budget. The board is scheduled to approve the $117 spending plan after a public hearing next Monday. By then, it should know the Legislature's final plan for closing an $860 million state budget gap - and that could yet again alter the school budget. On Monday, state senators Noun 1. state senator - a member of a state senate senator - a member of a senate reviewed the House proposal and tried to come up with an alternative rebalancing plan. While there was plenty of discussion, the Senate failed to pass a single bill. Leaders in both the House and Senate say they hope to have a final agreement by week's end. Kent told the board it appears the Legislature will come up with the $220 million that the failed state Ballot Measure 13 had promised to deliver to schools. The measure would have tapped the lottery-fed Education Endowment Fund Noun 1. endowment fund - the capital that provides income for an institution endowment patrimony - a church endowment chantry - an endowment for the singing of Masses . He said lawmakers may refer two measures to the September ballot - one that would raise cigarette taxes and another that would use $120 million from a stability fund to create a rainy-day fund for schools. Should the latter measure fail, House lawmakers have said the state will sell revenue bonds to raise the money. In the revised budget, the board settled on a $3.3 million cut because that's what the district would lose if the cigarette tax measure were put on the ballot and failed. Of that amount, $1 million would be money the district was able to save by cutting costs this year, Yancey said. Another $600,000 would come from a delay in transferring money from the general fund to the retirement fund. The Public Employees Retirement System Board is expected to raise its rate for public employers by about four percentage points in 2003, which will cost the district about $1.2 million; the board agreed to transfer only half of that amount next year. Doubling high school sports participation fees from $50 to $100 would raise another $50,000. Other cuts would include $470,000 for seven reserve teaching positions, $300,000 for three administrative positions and $95,000 that would have launched a new program for home-schooled students. The district had budgeted for 10 reserve positions, which allow for staffing flexibility in the fall if enrollment doesn't match projections at particular schools. After failing to agree on whether to cut administrative positions from the instruction department, the board left it to staff to return Monday with $218,000 in additional cuts to reach the $3.3 million target. The board must approve a budget before July 1, but can revise it at any time should revenue from the state differ from projections. SCHOOL BUDGET HEARING WHEN: 7 p.m. Monday WHERE: Board Room, Springfield School District Administration Center, 525 Mill St. WHAT: Public hearing on the proposed 2002-03 budget. The school board will meet immediately after the hearing to approve the budget. - The Springfield School District |
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