Schools

Brighton School Board Members Consider Almost $7.9 Million in Budget Cuts

Administrators presented a list of budget cuts to the Board of Education Monday night.

Brighton Area Schools could soon be making almost $7.9 million in cuts from next year's budget.

Items on the chopping block include transportation, maintenance, secretaries, a reduction in teachers, paraprofessionals and media specialists as well as programs like band, choir, NHS and student council.

[Here's the complete list]

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Brighton Superintendent Greg Gray and Assistant Superintendent of Finance Maria Gistinger compiled the list and presented it to board members Monday night. The board is expected to review the list and give their feedback by noon on Friday. 

Gray said that in order to have a break-even budget next year, the district must cut at least $3.5 million. 

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The list was compiled by looking at every department and eliminating a certain percentage from each, according to Gray.

Board Secretary Nick Fiani, one of the most vocal members on budget and finance issues, said he is satisfied with the list and said Gray and Gistinger did a thorough job. 

Fiani said he would approve almost all of the list, but would hesitate to cut transportation and the police liaison and school nurse positions. He would however be open to cutting programs like band and choir and reducing the athletic budget by $100,000. 

"I would be open to seriously considering those as a cut and the reason I say that is because I think there's other means to support those different type of curricular and extracurricular activities," Fiani said. "For example, given how much this community is involved in education and the school district, I think a lot of people, a lot of members of the community would be in favor of providing funding, whether it's the parents themselves or the students or different types of sponsorships.

"I don't ever think it would be an issue where those programs didn't exist," he said. "I think we need more people to directly fund the curricular or extracurricular activities that go outside of your traditional education, such as your math, your science, your history, your English and your foreign languages."

Board Trustee Beth Minert disagreed.

"My feeling is to keep those," Minert said. "Children need the arts. All these things are different outlets for kids outside of the classroom, that academic area. I was always in band, that was for me, the highlight of the day - it was something different than learning history dates and writing term papers and all that."

"This is hard, we've already done so much cutting," she added.

Brighton must submit its deficit elimination plan to the state by March 22 and approve its 2013-14 budget by July 1. 


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