My finance view

The Wichita school board on Monday will consider a list of more than $7.5 million in proposed budget cuts that would include laying off 117 workers.

USD 259 Superintendent John Allison announced the possible cuts Thursday as the district wrestles with cutting $25 million from its 2010-11 budget. The district has been notifying affected personnel this week of the possible jobs cuts.

“This has been difficult as we have informed employees that they may no longer have a job because it not only affects them, it affects their families and the economy,” Allison said in a statement. “We can’t make these kinds of cuts without cutting positions or affecting programs. Each cut that we make has a direct impact on students, teachers and our schools.”

The district is proposing to eliminate 44 learning services staff positions, 15 facilities staff members, five safety services personnel and three human resources positions, among others.

Other proposed cuts include eliminating the district’s drivers’ education program, eliminating job sharing positions at the elementary level and closing the Metro-Midtown Alternative High School, which was announced April 14 and could save $1 million.

To date, the district has recommended $14.2 million in cuts, which leaves another $10.7 million to slash.

Allison notified district employees of the proposed cuts in an e-mail Thursday afternoon.

“It is with great sadness that I share with you the next phase of budget reductions,” Allison wrote.

Allison said the proposed cuts were not taken lightly.

“I said from the beginning of this very difficult budget process that we would make necessary cuts as far away from the classroom as possible, and I can assure you we have worked to do just that,” Allison wrote. “However, we have now reached the point that people and classrooms are directly impacted.”

The district will be finalizing its list of cuts in the coming weeks as it prepares to adopt its budget for next year.

Proposed phase one budget cuts include changing start and end times at eight schools beginning next year, which represents $2.5 million in savings.

Phase two reductions include reducing overtime, eliminating the remaining four school resource officers at the district’s middle schools and suspending the Grow Your Own Teacher program. Those proposals equal $4.2 million.

Allison’s recommendations Thursday represent two additional phases of cuts, one totaling $5.2 million and the other $2.3 million.

Additional cuts will be shared in May, along with recommendations concerning the reductions schools must make. The district won’t know the total amount it has to cut until the Kansas Legislature finalizes its budget.

USD 259 is Wichita's third-largest employer with 9,343 employees district wide, according to a Wichita Business Journal list that published in January.

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