Traverse City Record-Eagle

Grand Traverse County

November 27, 2009

TCAPS budget committee 'back on track'

Members have 2 meetings left to recommend cuts

BY LINDSAY VANHULLE

TRAVERSE CITY -- Members of a committee suggesting budget cuts for Traverse City's public schools have little more than a week to draft a recommendation for the school board.

The 19-member group has met since August to identify savings for the 2010-11 school year, but members have not yet agreed that any item should make the final list.

They also have not eliminated any items from consideration, even those that received little support during an early ranking intended to set a framework for discussion. And a handful of items concerning salaries and benefits needs to be negotiated before it can be approved.

With two meetings left before the board is expected to take action on the committee's list, some members said the team will have to be decisive when it convenes Monday in order to meet the looming deadline.

"It's going to have to be," committee member Cynthia Glines said. "If we don't have anything to send to the board, it won't have been a productive use of time."

The group has discussed cuts between $2 million and $12 million for next year. Administrators are projecting a deficit between $6 million and $11 million, but said it could be closer to $8 million.

Board members will discuss the recommendation Dec. 14.

Committee members are "back on track" after becoming distracted by details, committee co-chairman and school board member Dave Barr said, when their task always has been to look at the big picture.

Some participants were frustrated for weeks at the lack of specific savings estimates for some suggestions, including transportation. Administrators have said it's hard to assign a dollar amount to some items without further analysis.

And conversations at times were defensive when some members had a stake in a particular item, such as restructuring central administration or re-examining high school trimesters.

Barr said he is concerned some committee members might not want to support pay reductions that later could surface in negotiations.

Most participants "would be directly affected if we started making cuts in those areas," he said. "There's been way too much posturing that has gone on and it's really hurt our ability to move forward."

The best information came directly from representative groups about ways their units could save money, such as custodians noticing lights left on at night, Glines said.

She wants the committee to look forward and not rehash old issues.

"These ideas will get sent, hopefully, with some priority," she said, adding that submitting an unranked list would be "less meaningful."

If you go

A 19-member committee that is to suggest a list of budget cuts for next year in Traverse City's public schools will meet Monday at 6 p.m. at the district's administration building on Webster Street in Traverse City.

Opportunities for public comment will be available. It is the second-to-last session before the committee submits a recommendation to the school board.

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