BY CONNIE HARSHMAN
HERALD DEMOCRAT
Needing to cut more than $1.8 million of reccurring costs from the Sherman Independent School District budget, school board members painstakingly looked at everything from eliminating block scheduling to staggering campus start times in an effort to save money.
While the affect of the $1.8-million deficit will not be evident for several months, Superintendent Al Hambrick asked for direction from the Board at a Thursday night meeting so the administration can pursue research on how budget cutting in certain areas will affect students and the district.
Board member Al Zorrilla expressed concern over planning early because the deficit figure could be less than projected.
Hambrick replied that he does feel that personnel cuts will be needed, but he wants to prepare and "the knowledge to not be a surprise. I am receiving calls and e-mails from staff wondering if they will be out of a job by next year."
"Right now we are just giving the administration some preliminary feedback so the administration can proceed. As a school board are you okay with us to proceed in that direction?" asked Sue Frazier, Board member.
Board member Kate Whitfield said she would like to see options that exceed the $1.8-million deficit so board members can choose the areas that they feel would affect students the least.
"There is going to be a recommendation that we have some reductions in staff," said Hambrick to the board. "We are going to bring back figures on how that will affect the budget deficit." Hambrick also said the administration will focus on cuts at the central office before looking at campuses.
"We will be looking at the people who are furthest away as possible from students, so when we get to the campuses, then we know that we have looked at all the areas. I don't want just academics to take a hit." Also, rather than layoffs, Hambrick and the board discussed the fact that salary cuts could happen through natural attrition in the district.
Board members also examined curriculum employees and health insurance benefits, as well as athletic budgets. Board members asked the district to look at employee contributions to the SISD insurance plan and the affect of switching to the state funded plan.
Board President John Hendricks asked the overall budget amount of SISD athletic programs. Assistant Superintendent Bruce Barnett replied $1,169,155. Out of a $60 million annual budget (general and federal funds combined), Hendricks said the athletic budget is a small amount.
Whitfield said the administration, school board and staff need to "all work on the same team to maximize benefits to the kids."
"We need to look for more opportunities of operating on less and being more efficient," added Hambrick. "We can't afford fluff."
Hambrick said the board and administration "need to have a good idea by mid-year of what we are going to do."
The next School Board meeting will be on Oct. 20 at Sory Elementary School. All meetings are open to the public.