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East Troy schools to cut programs

EAST TROY — The keywords are reducing costs and reorganizing staff in East Troy's community schools district, where the Board of Education approved this week about $510,000 in cuts for the upcoming academic year.

The district administrator's recommended cuts for 2009-10 include reducing the number of art classes from seven to about four next year and not replacing some retiring teachers.

Other means to balancing the budget are:

-- Increasing student registration fees by $15 per student and increasing athletic fees by $5 for middle school students and $10 for high school students, gaining about $20,000.

-- Reducing an aide position for the gifted and talented program from full time to about 60 percent, saving the district about $35,000.

-- Hiring a part-time music teacher to replace a retiring teacher, along with not filling clerical and custodian positions, saving the district about $230,000.

-- And reducing technology funding by $30,000.

"These were difficult cuts to make because we cut into programming and that is always difficult," said Bill Garvens, president of the school board. "The music department was personally a hard one for me to make. I grew up in the school district many years ago, and I was a part of the music program."

Along with programming cuts and instructional adjustments, the district will have to be creative and reorganize key administrative responsibilities, District Administrator Christopher Hibner said.

Administrative and supervisory staff will undergo a salary freeze in order to save the district $48,000. Some key positions also will be shuffled around to cover necessary responsibilities without hiring new staff.

The measures provide for no layoffs.

But it isn't all cuts for East Troy. The additions to the budget total $183,000 for the district. Some of those include:

-- A police liaison officer to devote two days to the schools at a $20,000 cost to the district.

-- A part-time bilingual aide to support the schools' programs for English language learners at a total cost of $30,000.

-- Increasing a psychologist position from 60 percent to full time at a total cost of $7,000.

-- And $100,000 to balance the previous budget.

The net reduction is $327,000 to balance the projected $320,000 budget shortfall for 2009-10.

The budget is set at $17 million for the upcoming year.