The Warren County R-III School Board finds itself in the difficult position of having to decide on the proposed elimination of multiple programs and positions across the district. The vote was …
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The Warren County R-III School Board finds itself in the difficult position of having to decide on the proposed elimination of multiple programs and positions across the district. The vote was originally scheduled to take place this Thursday but has been moved to Wednesday, Nov. 18, in light of two board members being quarantined. The meeting will be held in the Warrenton High School Commons.
“This is 100-percent a financial issue,” said Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith. “This is not an issue of not valuing a program. We just are spending more than we’re bringing in. We’ve been doing that for a number of years, and our reserves are very low now.”
The district’s projected fund balances are at 12.8 percent, which is below the required 15-percent mark established by the board as a precedent.
“Last year in 2019-20 we were planning on getting more revenue, but we had withholdings from the state which brought it down,” said Klinginsmith. “Since we did not receive an increase from projected revenue, we’re at a deficit again.”
This predicament has sparked a series of cuts, including the latest proposal of around $950,000 in savings through the reduction of programming and staff.
Among those proposed cuts is the elimination of the Evaluate assessment program used in the elementary schools to determine benchmark progress throughout the year.
“Hopefully we can develop something in-house to replace that,” said Klinginsmith.
At the high school, the drafting program and the Jobs for Americans program would be eliminated. Also proposed is the reduction of the Project Lead the Way program from eight classes down to two course offerings.
The high school agriculture program would be reduced from two teachers to one instructor.
Additionally, the high school would also eliminate one of its four assistant principal positions, one of the four counselor positions and one of the two credit recovery teacher positions.
At the middle school there would be the reduction of two core class teachers due to decreased enrollment.
The district is also proposing to cut one nurse position and the director of communications.
Also proposed is moving the Alpha Academy from its current separate location back to the high school building. This would result in savings from electricity and water costs.
The district will also be eliminating the gift cards awarded to students for attending summer school.
“It’s one of the worst days of my career when I had to walk around and talk to people about the cuts,” said Klinginsmith. “We’re in a really bad spot, and I feel awful for these folks that are being impacted. A lot of these programs are very dear to my heart — ones I care about and want my own children to have the opportunity to be a part of.”
These proposed cuts follow reductions already made in the transportation department, pushing bus pickup back to 2.5 miles or more from the buildings. The district also began charging for Care Day, a program that was free during its debut last year. Additionally, reductions were made to the Project Lead the Way program at the middle school. R-III also moved members of the Special Education staff to be funded by the Early Childhood program and eliminated one secretary, one assistant football coach and one custodial staff.
“The main thing we looked at was which courses had the lowest enrollment,” said Klinginsmith. “Really we’re trying to impact the least number of students as possible. Any time you have to impact one student, that’s not positive.
Cuts were made at the elementary and middle school levels over the past two years, but Klinginsmith says speciality areas in high school complicate reductions and shifting around of positions.
“It’s much more challenging to make cuts at the high school,” said Klinginsmith. “We looked at programs in the high school that had low enrollment and considered how do we not cut the whole program if we can or still offer some of the programs. So this is where we landed.”
Klinginsmith says the elimination of a position or program does not necessarily mean the unemployment of staff. R-III will collaborate with the Missouri State Teachers Association to determine how to transition personnel within the district.
“We’ll work with our teacher associations to determine the best way to move people,” said Klinginsmith. “At the high school the tricky part is the specific certifications, so we’ll move them in those areas. We’ve got three high school positions we have to move. I think we’ll be able to accommodate that through attrition. We don’t necessarily want to lose people.”
Klinginsmith says the district wanted to act early in order to give staff ample time to plan for their own response to the changes.
“If people need to make plans for a new job or get additional certification that is more marketable within the district, they have time to do that,” said Klinginsmith, who reminds that this is just a proposal and not yet decided.
“The board has three options,” said Klinginsmith. “They could approve the proposal as presented, not approve it as is and remove items, or not approve and add to it. What actually gets cut is really up to the board. The bottom line for the school district is we have to get back to a surplus budget.”
