Area schools may cut staff

He's still getting used to the chair in his new office, but Dale Slagle's honeymoon period at Frontenac USD 249 is all but over.
Slagle, the new superintendent of schools in Frontenac, learned on Thursday — as did school administrators across the state — that state budget deficits have forced Gov. Mark Parkinson to cut state aid to public school districts by 2 percent.
"For us, that's about $74,000," Slagle said. "That's the equivalent of about two teachers. I'm not saying we're planning on cutting two teaching positions right away, but that's the basic impact of it at this point."
The cuts imposed by Parkinson on Thursday total a reduction of around $39 million in state aid to school districts, which come at a time when schools are still trying to find ways to cope with aid cuts imposed earlier this year.
Pittsburg USD 250 is set to lose $230,000 because of the cuts. Destry Brown, Pittsburg USD 250 superintendent, said he was not surprised by Thursday’s announcement, adding that he and his staff have been preparing for more cuts for quite some time. But you can only prepare so much, he said.
"(The cut) is two percent," he said, "but really, another 50 cents onto what they had already cut is cutting into the quick and making it difficult. I don't know how you deal with (a loss of) $230,000, but we'll figure it out."
Since the state's budget crisis began, school district administrators have vowed to do everything they can to avoid eliminating positions to accommodate for state aid cuts. But according to Brown, that is getting harder each time more cuts are announced.
"We do everything we can to protect our people from any fear of loss of jobs," Brown said. "But at some point, when does the reality hit the streets? How do I hide the loss of $230,000 from my staff and everyone else?"
Brown said USD 250 cannot cut teaching positions, as contracts are already in place.
"But there may be some other staff — classified staff, folks of that nature — that we might have to take a good look at," he said.
Tim Burns, Southeast USD 247 superintendent, said his school district had already made some staffing adjustments to prepare for future budget cuts. However, as more cuts are announced, more action is needed.
"They keep moving the target on us," Burns said.
Burns said USD 247 will lose about $70,000 as part of the cuts announced Thursday.
Because staffing is the largest expense for school districts, budget cuts can only be so deep before elimination of positions is necessary.
"It's a personnel business," Slagle said. "It's people. It's hard for schools to make any major adjustments without impacting people."
Many school districts, instead of cutting staff, have implemented a hiring freeze or have chosen certain positions that they will not fill once they become vacant. But staff cuts by attrition aren't going to work forever, Slagle said.
"Hopefully you're able to (cut staff) over time by attrition so you won't have to tell someone who has been a loyal employee that you don't have a place for them next year," he said. "I would hope that's not going to happen. But cuts can't go a whole lot deeper before there are going to be discussions like that in schools across Kansas."
While the recent two percent cut is a bitter pill for school districts to swallow, Brown said it's probably not the last time that type of announcement will be made.
"I feel this is just a drop in the bucket for this year," he said. "We are in serious times, times that are unprecedented. We have never seen anything like this in the past."

Administrators from Girard USD 248 and Northeast USD 246 were not available for comment.