LAS Board of Education Candidate Q & A: Budget

Each Thursday, Lowell’s First Look is sharing a Q&A with candidates for the LAS Board of Education. Responses are shared exactly as provided by the candidate with no editing.

Here’s what we asked this week, followed by each candidate’s answer. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name.

Between declining enrollment and the loss of ESSER funds, Lowell Area School is faced with the prospect of less revenue in the coming years.

  1. If budget cuts need to be made, what 3 specific line items, initiatives or programs do you think should be reduced or eliminated first?

  2. What 3 line items, initiatives or programs are your priorities to continue to receive full funding?

Jessica Curtis

If budget cuts need to be made, what 3 specific line items, initiatives or programs do you think should be reduced or eliminated first?

If budget cuts need to be made, I feel the areas that should be reduced should have the least impact on our students and staff.
1). Reduce and save on energy costs wherever possible. Increase efficiency in any area possible.
2). Partner with local school districts to share services and reduce costs in areas that would least affect students (staff training, administrative tasks, etc.).
3.) Offer early retirement incentives to teachers and staff.

What 3 line items, initiatives or programs are your priorities to continue to receive full funding?

If budget cuts need to be made, I feel the following areas should continue to receive full funding:
1.) Direct classroom instruction is essential for our students’ academic achievement.
2.) Essential student support services, including school nurses, security resource officers, and school security, are essential for our students’ health and well-being.
3.) School programs critical to student achievement and closing the learning gaps, including special education services, should be prioritized to maintain all students’ education quality.

Brian Krajewski

If budget cuts need to be made, what 3 specific line items, initiatives or programs do you think should be reduced or eliminated first?

This question is not one that can be answered without significant evaluation of data (Current and Future).  Our goal as a school board is to create a modest balance fund that will “weather” short term volatility while programs are evaluated for effectiveness and long-term value.

What 3 line items, initiatives or programs are your priorities to continue to receive full funding?

I will group these into 3 general buckets

  1. STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – We have seen steady improvement YOY in these core subjects/areas.  I would like to see this trend continue as it supports all students in their desired next steps (college bound or career ready)
  2. Security – Both physical buildings  and cyber security.  Failure to stay on top of this area – providing safety to our students and staff –  s not an option.
  3. Mental Health –  This is hard to quantify regarding the dollars spent today.  As a district, we should begin to identify what the activities are, the time spent ultimately rolling up to an “investment cost”.

In my “work world” I often tell leaders of organizations, departments and teams, Your strategy is ultimately defined by “where you spend your money”.  You may write on paper that your strategy is “X” but if you are spending your money (Both dollars and resource time) on “Y” then “Y” is your actual and undocumented strategy.  As a consequence, your leading indicators throughout the year may actually not be performing as well as you hoped or planned on.  Additionally, if external or other factors are consuming your time/money, those new factors will most likely be taking away progress on your actual strategic and tactical goals.  We must all remember that Time and Money are finite and therefore we must be very intentional with both.

Laurie Kuna

If budget cuts need to be made, what 3 specific line items, initiatives or programs do you think should be reduced or eliminated first?

Any cuts to the district should be kept as far away from the classrooms as possible, but I don’t think we start cutting programs until we exhaust all revenue streams, adjust the academic schedule to maximize our educational resources, examine teaching assignments (and who’s qualified to teach what) and reduce department budgets. Can we acquire more Englehardt monies? Since its inception, the school superintendent and the high school principal have been members of the 5-person Englehardt (aka Lowell Community Fund) board that determines where those monies go.

Other possible revenue streams include the Ed Foundation—which already funds grants to individual classroom teachers. Can they help more, or how can the district help them increase their funding through increased donor participation? What state and/or Federal grants are available? Before ESSER monies, the district did an excellent job of finding grants to use for programs that were new or needed support. Our CFO and Central Office administrators are already looking for monies to replace ESSER.

Also, we can reduce our work force through attrition rather than laying off staff, which costs the district through unemployment benefits. Are there any areas where we can save money? Although I think we’re incredibly good at stretching our finances, there are always ways to reduce costs, and even small reductions when combined can result in substantial savings across.

For example, our central copying center was put in place years ago to reduce the higher costs of staff making copies on individual building copy machines. Has the Copy Center reduced building copier use and thus produced savings for the district? If not, why? What does the district have to do to make this system more cost effective? What do individual buildings have to do to make sure staff members are following established copier protocol? And if the Copy Center is not, in fact, delivering copies back to the teachers in a timely and efficient way, how can the problems be fixed. Finding the answers to such questions would require a district-wide, building-by-building examination of all internal spending, but such an effort is necessary in order to reduce the costs of programs and thus keep resources in the classrooms.

What 3 line items, initiatives or programs are your priorities to continue to receive full funding?

Again, after exhausting all money-saving initiatives, I’d say keep the core instructional disciplines—reading, writing, math, science and social studies—and look to reduce programs that don’t meet state standards for graduation. I’d also keep our media centers open in each school. The amount of information available to students through the media centers is invaluable to student growth and knowledge and really provides an enormous “bang for the buck” to our educational community.

Sharon Shah

If budget cuts need to be made, what 3 specific line items, initiatives or programs do you think should be reduced or eliminated first?

  1.   Improvements in technology: While it is nice to have new computers for high school students, in a pinch, an expense like this could be cut.
  2.   Building improvements: Projects like aesthetic updates (e.g., signs, furniture) could be postponed. This doesn’t include Cherry Creek’s much-needed classroom renovations.
  3.   Administrative overhead: Consolidating roles in administration could free up funds, allowing more resources to be directed to teachers and their classrooms.

What 3 line items, initiatives, or programs are your priorities to continue receiving full funding?

  1.   Core curriculum: It’s crucial that we remain diligent in raising the bar of excellence in our district, continuing to fight for better outcomes. Test scores are improving, and l’d love to be an advocate to keep this progress on the rise.
  2.   Teachers’ salaries: Teachers are vital to our district. It’s important they receive competitive pay and have access to the best teaching and learning materials. Prioritizing this will help promote quality education.
  3.   Special education: This is close to my heart. We will never close the educational gaps in our district without consistently advocating for early intervention. Special education is essential to fostering inclusion and creating a safe learning environment for some of our most important students in Lowell Area Schools.

Annie McMahon Whitlock

If budget cuts need to be made, what 3 specific line items, initiatives or programs do you think should be reduced or eliminated first?

This is a difficult question to answer, as budgetary decisions could be made by reallocating or getting creative with what we have without needing to make drastic cuts. Lowell Area Schools’ is successful because of its student-centered focus, so any costs that don’t directly impact students could use some out-of-the-box thinking. This could include reducing our operational costs by exploring sustainable, environmentally friendly solutions. We may also need to investigate ways to partner with the Lowell community to provide services to share costs. Data should also drive decision-making. For example, curricular programs that aren’t supported by research and/or don’t lead to
academic results

What 3 line items, initiatives or programs are your priorities to continue to receive full funding?

Similar to my last answer, anything that does have a direct impact on students’ success should be prioritized first. Instructional support staff (reading and math interventionists), special education services, summer school and credit recovery programs, and early childhood education are some examples of investments that lead to long-term success. Investing in professional development for teachers and support staff so they can implement these initiatives is just as important as funding the initiatives themselves.

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