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Ross weighs budget cutting options

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By Linda Ebbing, Staff Writer 10:09 PM Thursday, April 23, 2009

ROSS TWP. — Without implemented and projected budget cuts of more than $5 million, Ross Local School District officials are looking at a projected budget deficit for fiscal year 2011.

“State funding is flat lined and could even be a 2 percent decrease,” Superintendent Todd Yohey told board members Thursday night, April 23.

In the past two years, cuts of more than $2.5 million have been made including reduced certified and non-certified staff, fewer bus routes and reduced spending on supplies and technology. Cuts projected for the next three years total a little more than $1 million a year, but even with the $5.7 million cuts, the “district will still face a budget shortfall,” Yohey said.

Reducing transportation services by setting up shuttle stops similar to those set up in 2005 will save the district $450,000 over the next three school years, he said.

Yohey also suggested possibly alternating days of custodial service in classrooms, which would save the district just under $100,000 under a year and eliminate a bus route at a cost saving of $57,900 for one year.

Those three options would save the district another $1 million, totalling $6.7 million and put “us in the black,” Yohey said.

In November 2008, Ross Local School District residents passed a 0.75 percent earned income tax.

To avoid an operating levy in the next two years, Yohey said district officials have to continue to examine expenditures and make cuts.

“We are trying to lessen the impact on the education we provide for our kids,” said board President Dave Brown.

A decision on the transportation issue is expected to be made at the May 28 board meeting.

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