Amid talks of possible school closures and dramatic budget cuts, USD 501's Budget Reduction Stakeholders Committee met this evening for the first time this year. The committee is made up of about 35 citizens, teachers, and other members of the community. It is led by two 5-0-1 administrators.
Leaders aren’t sure yet how much they're going to need to cut, however, given the state's financial situation, they say they are going to prepare for the worst.
A small sample of the items being reviewed include closing two elementary schools, cutting 21 elementary school teachers, cutting nine school days from the academic calendar, and adding 30 minutes to each day.
Tonight is the first weekly meeting in a series expected to last through the end of the year. Last year the committee recommended about 12 million dollars in cuts, and the school board, which has the final say, adopted six million dollars of those cutbacks. The committee had proposed more cuts than were needed, which members say is good – it keeps services directly affecting children intact.
“In terms of finance for education for next year, we anticipate it will be deep again,” co-chair Jeff Litfin said. “But we have not identified exactly what our target goal is yet.”
The committee is scheduled to present this to the 501 board on January 21st. Members say if you have ideas they'd love to hear from you.
If you know someone serving on the committee, you can contact them directly. You can also contact the committee’s co-chairs. They are Pam Leinwetter, who can be reached at (785) 295-3069 or pleinwet@topeka.k12.ks.us and Jeff Litfin, who can be reached at (785) 295-3011 or jlitfin@topeka.k12.ks.us.
Reporting: Amy Wolf
Photojournalist: Keith Miles
