With the $300,000 district budget cuts and increased revenues approved for the 2010-2011 school year, what is in store for the student body? On February 22, 2010, the district’s budget reduction recommendations were approved by the Board of Education. This will mean that the library bus route, one special education teacher, two special education aides and half an English teacher will be cut. In addition to the original recommendations, the cheer team will be eliminated, the dance team will have only one coach and the swim team’s practice transportation will not be funded.

Increased revenues for next school year could heavily impact some students. The general school fee will increase $5, there will be a one-time $35 athletic fee to participate in all sports for the entire year, solo/ensemble for Band and Choir will be $10 per student and the high school parking fee will increase to $50.

Dr. Schaid said, "The parking fee is a little bit of a shock—it’s quite a jump from $10 to $50. However, if the students check around with other high schools, we’re still pretty cheap compared to other schools in our area."

"I think the library bus being cut will make lots of people mad," said freshman Mitchell Kopf. "I think it’s also bad that there is a fee for solo/ensemble and that the parking fee went up."

Some students have been wondering why the district can afford Mimio devices for classrooms, yet the district has to make budget reductions. Dr. Schaid explained that there were two reasons why the Mimios were installed and why they aren’t part of the budget. The first reason is that there was some money left over from the end of last year. That money was used to purchase a portion of the Mimios. The second reason is that President Obama gave schools a substantial amount of stimulus money this year. Since there were restrictions with what the stimulus money could be spent on, the district had to be careful how it used it. By following the restrictions carefully, the district was able to purchase the Mimios and two laptop carts. The stimulus money, which the district has two years to use, will also be used to buy software for students who need remediation.

"It’s not going to get any easier, and we’re going to be depending on the student body to help us by giving us some ideas. So, this (the budget issue) is not going to change until the state decides to fund schools differently," Dr. Schaid concluded.