St. Vrain budget cuts could mean shorter weeks, no busing; District seeks to save teachers, maintain class sizes

Any budget cuts made by St. Vrain Valley School District officials in the coming years should not impact teacher jobs or class sizes, attendees at Wednesday evening’s interactive budget forum said.

St. Vrain Valley School District Superintendent Don Haddad answers questions from residents regarding anticipated reductions to K-12 education during a meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 3, at the Silver Creek High School Auditorium. Jeremy Papasso photo

District officials held the forum at Silver Creek High School Wednesday to gather community input as the school board prepares to deal with state funding reductions for fiscal year 2010-11 that have been predicted to amount to $11 to $15 million dollars. The exact amount of funding cuts won’t be known until the state legislature approves the school finance bill this spring.

SVVSD officials are gathering information from several community meetings, meetings with parents at district schools, and discussions with local city and county officials before they tackle the budget in March. The district’s 2010-11 budget must be approved by June 30.

“We need to hear as much as possible from our community before we start the budget process,” said school board member Debbie Lammers, who attended the forum. “We want to know what parents and community members think our top priorities should be.”

At Wednesday’s forum, about 125 of the approximately 175 attendees used “clickers” to vote on questions posed by district officials. The clickers, used in some middle and high school classrooms, allowed forum attendees to register their votes electronically so that responses could be tabulated almost immediately.

However, forum moderator Aaron Harber pointed out that the voting Wednesday was “totally unscientific” and district officials “should not use these numbers to determine how people in the community really feel.” About 45 percent of the attendees identified themselves as parents, while many school district employees also attended the forum.

Preserving teacher jobs and smaller class sizes were top priorities for forum attendees, who also supported maintaining early childhood education and continuing district technology efforts. But state Rep. Jack Pommer, D-House District 11 and chair of the Joint Budget Committee, told forum attendees that the state no longer requires districts to offer pre-school and full-day kindergarten.

“I hope St. Vrain doesn’t have to sacrifice those programs, because they make quite a difference in student success,” he said.

A caller to the forum asked about the possible impact budget cuts could have on district transportation. About 30 percent of SVVSD students ride buses to school, SVVSD Superintendent Don Haddad said. State law no longer requires district to provide transportation, so options for the district could include charging fees, extending the walking distances for providing transportation, or eliminating bus transportation completely. Haddad stressed that no decisions had been made on the issue.

A poll of forum participants found that they favored imposing a transportation fee over increasing fees for athletics and extracurricular activities or charging for some classroom materials.

Forum participants also ranked “moving to a shorter week with longer school days” over “replacing some classes with online classes” and “consolidating schools” as ways to save money.

“A shorter school week makes sense,” parent Stacey Blackwell said after the forum. “You can save energy costs and building costs, and maybe save some salary costs for hourly support staff.”

But, Blackwell added, preserving teacher jobs should be the top priority for the district.

St. Vrain Valley Education Association president Jerri Modrall said she appreciated all the support for the district and its teachers that she heard at Wednesday’s forum.

“But one thing the district should focus on is not to get into a scarcity mentality,” she said.”If you work only with your worst fears about funding, you don’t make rational decisions.”

Those at Wednesday’s forum did express approval of the district’s five-year budget planning process.

“We learned lessons from our 2002 budget crisis,” SVVSD School Board President John Creighton said. “We do long-term planning – at least five years – and look for the ripple effects of our decisions.”

Audience members also expressed support for keeping physical education as part of the curriculum, and making sure that enough resources are available to allow classroom instruction to be tailored to the needs of students and not become “one size fits all.”

An online question asked why the district allows high school students to leave campus during lunches, saying that it could generate revenue for the district if they have to stay and eat school food.

Keeping all students on campus would create a space problem in the high school cafeterias, Haddad answered, pointing out that the students also bolster the local economy with their spending.

Parents Jeff and Kim Fuhrman, who have three children in district schools, said they were “disappointed” with the turnout Wednesday.

“I think every district resident needs to take some responsibility for becoming informed and helping the district through this budget crisis,” Kim Fuhrman said. “People also need to think about how they can help with their time and pitch in at the schools. And we need to figure out a way to retain our quality teachers, because they will leave if it gets bad enough.”

“I think the quality of life in this area is eroding, and the lack of school funding is a symptom of that,” Jeff added.