District Unveils Plan to Eliminate its Deficit

West Chester Superintendent Dr. Jim Scanlon laid out the school district’s preliminary plan to make up a $3.4 million budget shortfall for the 2011-2012 school year on Monday night.

“We’ve cut $10 million in expenses in the last two years.” Scanlon said.  “If that continues we will begin to erode the quality of our programs.”

The school district faced a $1.1 million deficit heading into March, and according to Scanlon the school board was “in good shape.”

However, Governor Corbett revealed his budget, and the district got word that it would receive a $4.5 million reduction in funds.

“This isn’t the most efficient way to do budgets,” Scanlon said.  “The eight week window creates a lot of confusion and leads to a lot of emotion.”

Last year, the district faced a $5.25 million deficit and formed a community task force to analyze ways schools could save money.

Due to the short turn around the district does not have that option.

Perhaps the most controversial cut to the 2011-2012 budget is the elimination of the extended day kindergarten program that will save the district $531,410.

According to Scanlon, this program is provided to students in the district who might need extra attention when they start school, kids who might not be ready for a traditional classroom environment.

“Unless we can find half a million dollars in the budget, this program will not run,” Scanlon said.

According to Scanlon, the program currently services 75 students in the district, and the state was providing 80 percent of the funds.

“We got block grants for early childhood education from the state that totaled $344,000.  That kindergarten funding has been cut to zero,” Scanlon said.

The district will also be making significant reductions in staff eliminating 35 positions and saving the district $1.9 million.

“We are making these cuts through retirements,” Scanlon said.  “There will be no furloughs”

For example, the district is reducing the number of guidance counselors at each middle school from four to three, bringing the total from 12 to nine.

“All three of those counselors are retiring,” Scanlon said.

During his speech Scanlon said that while people talk a lot about numbers and deficits when they talk about budgets, they usually forget about the students.

“We can’t forget about the students,” Scanlon said.  “We need to reduce the direct impact of cuts on students.”

Scanlon went on to say that the district has cut 67 staff positions in two years, and that it is getting to the point that the students will soon be affected directly.

“People always want to cut staff because it’s 75 percent of our expenses, but it’s an investment in people,” Scanlon said.  “And people are our product.”

Scanlon added, “We can’t lose track of doing the right thing.  There are still inefficiencies, but there are also opportunities to fix those.  We can’t waste those opportunities.”