There was recently a new budget update posted to slpschools.org. Look under "about us"/"budget"/"budget documents". It is sobering. They are predicting needing to cut about $1.2 million next year, or about twice what was cut this year. Then in the following year, they show $2.0 million in cuts. It doesn't explain the assumptions made, I'm guessing they are assuming flat state funding for the next couple of years. If anyone on this list can can elucidate on that, please do so.

Saving money closing a building may help. I'm still not convinced the numbers work for doing that, at least under the plans usually discussed. If ever there was a time for creative solutions, this is it ...

Jim:

In speaking with Sandy Salin, finance director for the district about the shortfall, she stated that they are assuming a zero percent funding from the state, and increases in benefits and maintenance costs. In some of the meetings conducted by Wold they mentioned that closing a building could potentially save anywhere from 300,000 to 800,000. I would think with the size of our buildings it would probably be in the $500,000 neighborhood. It will be interesting to see what type of figures the district will come up with. Even with closing a building we would still have a significant shortfall.

Maybe we can begin marketing the great things about our schools and attract more students. Just a thought.

One question I have about marketing our school district to other students is the cost risks associated with that. Can anyone tell me the details of how the costs work with out of district students? It seems to me that if the incoming students have no special education needs, they are a good deal financially for the district's finances. However, incoming students with special education needs actually cost the district more money than what they bring in.

I'm sorry to be so blunt and mean nothing negative toward our SLP special education students. We are one community. I just want to be clear about what we can do with outreach and how that truly impacts our financial bottom line.

Linda Hammersten

I always got the impression that most money brought by a student was spent on that student. With benefits calculated in, I imagine each student contributes about $3000 towards their primary teacher, for starters. I appreciate that more students/money allows greater "breadth" to our programs, plus I have also heard as general philosophy, "if you are not growing, you're probably dying", so it is certainly worth talking about, but probably at best can't do much about the looming fiscal crisis.