Springfield district explores creative budget cuts

Like many school districts, Springfield Public Schools is researching creative ways to trim its budget, from the possibility of staff cuts or a four-day school week.

The district, which has 24,000 students in 51 school buildings, already has trimmed $15 million from its budget in the past two years, said Superintendent Norm Ridder said.

"The state is giving us less revenue and local revenue is flat,” Ridder said. “We know we’ll be receiving less in the future and we need to plan for that.”

The district’s revenue increased between the 2008–09 and 2009–10 school years by $10 million to $201 million, but expenses also jumped by $6 million to $197 million for the same timeframe, Ridder said. Projections for the 2010–11 school year show revenues and expenditures are expected to be nearly flat at $201 million.

Some U.S. school districts have implemented four-day school weeks, Ridder said, though he was careful to note that the concept is one among many ideas being explored to help the district make more cuts from next year’s budget.

Other options include eliminating the block schedule and moving to a standard schedule in high schools, allowing teachers to teach more classes; cutting staff and increasing class size; cutting the number of administrators who are coaching; and possibly cutting the number of assistant principals.

But it is perhaps the possibility of a shorter school week that has caught the most attention from the community.

The Missouri Legislature gave its approval for state school districts to go to a four-day school week last year. Michele Clark, communication coordinator for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, is aware of just one Missouri district –
Lathrop R-II School District just north of Kansas City – that has made the switch.

The Lathrop district began discussing the possibility of a four-day week during a summer retreat in 2009, and the change was approved in May. It began using four-day weeks at the start of this school year.

“We researched and talked to other schools in other states that had done it, looked at studies regarding academics, sent out surveys and met with the community,” Superintendent Chris Blackburn said.

Schedule savings
Lathrop has 880 students, three school buildings and a $9.4 million budget. The district’s projected savings in hourly employee wages and transportation costs is $120,000.

“These are the only two line items we could project in black and white,” Blackburn said. “Cost savings in food and utilities will have to be analyzed over the next several years.”

In the private sector, some businesses have cut employee workweeks to four days during the recession as a cost-saving measure, and others allow four-day weeks as an employee perk.

American Acoustics President Jon Baker said 16 of his field technicians were cut to 36 hours per week, working four days a week, nine hours a day, which allowed them to keep their benefits. The hourly reduction lasted from December 2009 through July, but Baker said he doesn’t know how much the company saved in salaries or service vehicle costs.

“It was more of just meeting the demand for the business at the time. I really didn’t calculate the savings,” he said.

Now that all employees are back to 40 hours, four employees have opted to work four 10- hour days, which meets the demand by certain customers and gives employees a flexible schedule, he said.

Other companies, such as The Marlin Network, sometimes offer a flexible four-day, 40-hour workweek during the summer. Marlin Controller Cabot Brothers said because the office is still open five days a week, it’s about employee flexibility instead of cost savings.
SPS’ Ridder said he doesn’t yet have cost-savings projections for the district on potential budget cuts because research is under way.

Key parent concerns
When considering a four-day school week, Lathrop School District’s Blackburn said parents were primarily concerned about child care and academic achievement.

“As far as academics, research showed no major losses in other districts,” Blackburn said. “Right now, teachers are reporting they are getting more done.”

The Lathrop district didn’t cut the number of hours students attend school, which is mandated by the state to be at least 1,044. The four school days are stretched to eight hours, giving students 1,095 hours. Blackburn said the district chose Monday as its off- day, as more holidays fall on that day, and it interferes less with extracurricular activities.

Blackburn said two churches offered day care on Mondays, the day the schools are closed, but only three families showed an interest. And 10 students are enrolled in the district’s elementary after-school program.

Representatives of Boys and Girls Clubs of Springfield and the Ozarks Regional YMCA, which both offer after-school programs for Springfield students, said their organizations would likely conform to any schedule the Springfield district adopts, though neither group has analyzed how a switch would affect their budgets.

“We’re very supportive of the Springfield public schools and will adapt as best we can,” said Ashley French, district director of operations at the YMCA.

Testing the waters
Seven SPS administrative sites closed one day a week during this past summer as a trial.

“We didn’t have any cost savings this past summer because we didn’t completely shut down the sites,” said Steve Chodes, chief financial officer for the district. “If we do it next summer, we will shut down every administrative site for a day.” Chodes said the district could save $250,000 with such a move.

Ridder said the district would be ready to put all of the budget-cut proposals in front of the school board later this fall. He has doubts, however, that parents would support the idea of a four-day school week.

“They want the kids in school five days a week. If I had my druthers, I would have them in school six days a week, year-round,” Ridder said.[[In-content Ad]]