The Oakland Press (CA) - Lake Orion School District discusses budget cuts

By Monica Drake, Special to The Oakland Press

March 5, 2010 - The Lake Orion Community School district is continuing its discussion of possible budget cuts to be made in the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

“We talked previously about having a $10 million or $10 million-plus type of reduction. And, based on the items, you are not going to achieve that,” said Jillynn Keppler, assistant superintendent of administrative services. “Like we said several times, salaries and benefits have to be an area that’s looked at as a major piece of making this budget work.”

At a recent Board of Education meeting, Keppler said 85 percent of the district’s money goes to salary and benefits.

Keppler said the district’s administration plans to present a preliminary budget at the next board meeting so the district can be on target for contract-related items, such as layoffs.

She stressed that the preliminary budget will not be the final decision and that a public hearing will be in May to give the community a chance to respond.

Treasurer Jim Weidman said that the items discussed in the budget analyses are not feasible for the reduction the school district is looking at.

Weidman said if everything in the budget analyses was eliminated — like transportation, athletics, school cleaning rotation, police liaisons, elementary buildings, assistant principals, etc. — it would only amount to an $11.5 million reduction.

Many board members stated the reductions being outlined aren’t possible.

“We need the best case recommendations to impact the least and suggestions to where we go next,” said Board President Bill Walters.

A committee of 10 people, eight parents and two staff members, discussed ideas for revenue enhancement instead of only reductions.

Some of the ideas were fundraising events such as an art show or through the sale of T-shirts, selling advertising on buses and athletic fields, selling ad space on Orion’s educational channel, the school’s food service catering to local businesses, utilizing online books and selling parking spaces closest to the school.

“Parents were willing to do almost anything we needed them to do,” said Brian Kaplan, principal at Orion Oaks.

Kaplan said parents were willing to volunteer their time in order to raise additional funding for the school district.

Other areas of concern were grouped into categories and members of the district presented information to the board about areas such as the following:

Athletics

About 40 percent of students in the middle school and high school levels combined play a sport. High school students annually pay $225 to participate and middle school students pay $200. Some of the potential budget reductions are to eliminate various sports at one or both levels; eliminate practices on weekends, vacations and holidays; eliminate bus transportation; review coaches’ pay; and utilize volunteers as game workers.

Six alternatives were also discussed. The first was to have all sports operate as self-funded, which would save the district $352,944. The second was a tiered pay-to-participate fee, which may differ at varsity, junior varsity, freshmen and middle school levels, also saving $352,944.

The third alternative would be to turn over the Athletic Department operations to outside organizations, which would effectively eliminate the Athletic Department and save $829,500. A fourth alternative was to eliminate freshmen sports, saving $68,575. Eliminating junior varsity would save $95,496 and eliminating middle school sports would save the district $245,058.

“Those who participate in athletics have higher GPAs,” said William Reiss, the athletic director, in support of the Athletic Department at Lake Orion High School.

He stated that the average GPA of a high school student at Lake Orion is 3.038 and the average GPA of an athlete in the school is 3.265. Reiss also said athletes also have a better-than-average attendance, take more difficult classes, do better on skills tests, have reduced drug and alcohol use, are less likely to be obese, and have better job characteristics.

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