As anticipated by local school district administrators, Governor Jennifer Granholm is asking for another cut in per pupil allowances sent to school districts in the state.
At the Lake Orion School Board meeting on Nov. 12, administrators submitted a proposal to reduce the 2003-04 budget by $383,022. Board members will take action on the proposal in December.
This latest effort to balance the budget will still not impact the classroom, according to LO School Superintendent Dr. Craig Younkman.
Based on a $200 per pupil decrease, the school district is facing a drop of $1.2 million in revenue The good news is it has received a one-time $600,000 from Oakland Schools for special education funding which will soften the blow.
A budget adjustment to account for actual (rather than estimated) staffing and planned expenditures and a reduction in insurance costs estimates also helped.
Proposed reductions included a moratorium on all personnel attending conferences and any new curriculum, computer purchases, maintenance and operations repairs, decreasing central office department budgets, non-replacement of a retiring administrator, reducing transportation supplies.
If all of these reductions are approved, the budget would actually show $32,274 in revenue over expenses.
Dr. Younkman told school board members that starting the day after the school board meeting, the process to eliminate any remaining uncertainty in the budget would begin.
“And we’ll be soliciting input from staff for next year’s budget,” he added.
Over $3 million in reductions were made by the school board earlier this year — largely non-instructional.