By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post

USD 489 Board President Greg Schwartz told Hays Post he wants the community to know the board has not given up looking at ways to cut the projected $1.3 million budget deficit, which is why the current plan to cut 16 staff members for the FY 2014-2015 is not “a done deal.”

“The worst-case scenario is the plan that is on the table now. (It) will get us to the savings we need, but we haven’t quit and we are not going to quit looking at all the issues ,whether it  is busing or pay-to-participate, a kindergarten fee, or an overall (materials) fee or tech fee,” he said.

Schwartz said the board and administration also are looking at the whether nurses are needed at every school or if the duties can be fulfilled with licensed practical nurses or certified nursing aides.

“I need to make sure I know exactly what they do and figure out what need is there,” he said, noting that idea was prompted by a meeting with teachers and “not something the board came up with on our own.”

Schwartz said none of the board’s decisions have been made lightly.

“All the while we are looking at (the budget), we are not doing it in a vacuum, but we are taking (Superintendent Dean Katt’s) advice on this and that all comes from numerous and countless hours spent with building principals and they, together, have created this (current) plan we are looking at now,” Schwartz said.

“Nobody likes it. The principals don’t like it, Dean doesn’t like it, and we (the board) do not like it, and I know some parents and teachers don’t either because I have heard from them,” he added. “We plan on looking at especially the classroom size, and I feel I can speak for the board on this as a whole: We plan on adding some teachers back to reduce class size.”

Schwartz said as to the specific programs the board is “not there yet” but will look at all the potential cuts, make an evaluation, prioritize the importance of those programs and “re-establish positions to the extent we can.”

“My budget approach,” he said, “is as we do this is, the board is not going to make decisions on our own. We are going to to have discussions in public meetings so the community knows we are talking about — and not just one discussion — but get out what we are talking about so we will get the emails, the phones calls, because sometimes we may talk about an issue in a meeting and think ‘this is the greatest idea ever’ or we think we should cut this or do that and then you start getting input from the community and realize ‘oh, that was a horrible idea.’ ”

Schwartz said his goal on the budget is the idea of looking at “what is necessary” in the schools, which he acknowledged is concerning to some.

“If we had an unlimited supply of money, we would not need to look at it that way,” he said.