KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — After a technical issue forced them to delay their original budget hearing, the Kalamazoo Public Schools Board is officially approving their budget for the 2020-2021 school year, which is about $6 million dollars smaller than last year’s spending plan.
The budget was set to be approved on June 26th, but they had problems cablecasting the virtual public hearing and streaming it online as planned, preventing some community members from sharing their thoughts, so the meeting was rescheduled for Monday.
By law the budget must be submitted in Lansing by July 1st, which is the first day of the new school year, even though there are still a lot of questions of what school will look like following the coronavirus pandemic.
So two days before the deadline, KPS trustees held another special virtual meeting Monday evening and approved the budget 6 to 1. Board member Tandy Moore was the only no vote.
The budget includes nearly $7.5 million dollars in cuts like getting rid of 10 positions at the high schools and eliminating the Middle School Alternative Learning and Lift Up Through Literacy programs. Music and arts programs have not been impacted, but athletics will be trimmed by 5%.
“The majority of these positions are to be eliminated due to attrition, and also know that we will have the flexibility to add teachers as the enrollment and budget allow,” KPS Superintendent Dr. Rita Raichoudhuri said.
The cuts would also eliminate two teacher professional development days, reduce non-salary budgets by 5% and implement a 1.33% salary reduction with no steps, subject to negotiations and affecting only salaries over $11 an hour.
Overall, trustees hope to save money and avoid any layoffs with salary cuts, resignations, retirements and leaving vacant positions open.
The projected spending for the upcoming school year is currently set at $157.2 million dollars, down from nearly $163 million spent in the previous year; however, it could all change by August, before classes resume.
KPS Deputy Superintendent Gary Start assured trustees that they have not seen the final numbers from Lansing on funding or the cost of health safety, so the budget will need fixing when they do.
“The budget is something that’s amended routinely, you know, you find better ways of doing things…it is in fact what happens every year,” Start said during the virtual meeting.
Some community members called in and suggested that the district should only hold in-person classes a few days a week and do the rest online to save money, while others repeated their objections to the school resource officers that KPS hires for the high schools. They suggested that that money should be spent on psychologists and social workers instead.
Trustee Ken Greschak doubted the $140,000 they spend on the officers would provide them the help the speakers requested, “I know that, you know, the hundred and some odd thousand dollars that the SROs cost isn’t going to buy enough social and emotional support in our schools.”
A decision on funding officers could come later this summer.
