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2009-11-21

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Lifestyles

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:00 PM

School board bracing for more cuts in the near future

By COURTNEY SERVAES, Herald Staff Writer

You have to pay the electricity bill when it shows up.

At least that’s what Dennis George told fellow Ottawa School Board members during Monday night’s meeting regarding the increasing possibility of another budget cut from the Kansas Department of Education.

“There’s not a lot left to cut,” Superintendent Dean Katt said during the meeting. “Your guess is as good as mine for next year.”

Katt told school board members he anticipates another round of cuts in the near future, based on what he’s heard from the Kansas Department of Education. The state of Kansas already has undergone several rounds of reductions.

“I think we’re going to have to make some cuts and start looking at the spreadsheet again,” Katt said. “I think we’re going to be facing some tough times and going to have to go through another round of budget cuts.”

Katt said he wasn’t sure when the cuts would happen, but he thought they would happen in the near future.

And when they do, Katt said he wasn’t sure what’s left to cut out of the school’s already-trimmed budget.

“We’re looking down, not looking up,” board member Marge Stevens said. “Not because we choose to, but because we have to.”

Stevens said no one wants cuts, but the board has no choice — they have to find something to eliminate from the budget.

“No one wants it to be that way, but the quicker that everybody understands that we’re in this and we’re all in this, the better,” she said.

Board member Susan Ward echoed what George and Stevens had to say, stating the school district isn’t in control of the budget anymore — the state is.

“We’re absolutely just passengers on this bus,” Ward said.

Regardless, Katt said the board would look at the numbers if another cut comes through and try not to eliminate valuable education programs.

“We’ll need to cut the things that won’t affect kids,” Katt said.

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School board bracing for more cuts in the near future

By COURTNEY SERVAES, Herald Staff Writer

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.