The word is out in the paper and on the street that we need to cut expenses pretty seriously here at Reed Custer. This is no surprise to those who are looking at the financial status of the district. For 6 years straight the district has spent more than it took in. We can’t do that in our home budgets and we won’t do that any more with your tax dollars. The Board of Education is firmly resolved to bring that into alignment and spend only what we are bringing in for the coming year.

Of course, to bring expenses in under our revenues we will need to do without some things we have had in the past. Most of our budget is in personnel and their salaries and benefits. We are a service industry in the current terminology. The only way we can make deep enough cuts to put the budget into the black is to reduce the number of people we are paying. That is always hard to do and it always means that a few people suffer the most from the cuts.

What we are going to try to do is to cut without reducing the high quality of education we provide to the students. There will be some losses and when you cut people you will cut some of the educational experiences that students now enjoy. Our goal is to minimize those losses and make the system work with less expense.

What I am asking you for today is to let me know that you are willing to help. I am not asking for more tax dollars. I know the economy has everyone in varying degrees of cutting back their own home budgets. What I am asking is that you provide your input into the process of choosing where the cuts need to be made. We are asking teachers, administrators, board members, parents and taxpayers to talk with us about how we can cut in a way that the community can live with.

If you are interested in putting some time into this process, let me know by emailing me (click here to email me ) and telling me you want to serve on a citizen committee to look at finances. This group will meet in the next several weeks to look at programs and see what we can trim or eliminate to help bring the budget into balance.

Once we have heard from the various groups, the Board of Education will put together a strategy for the cuts and hold public hearings for you to express your opinions again about the cuts the board is studying. Then, the board will have to decide. Together, as the Reed Custer community, we will find a way to balance our budget and still maintain quality in the classroom. Together, we will move forward and continue to build on the tradition of excellence that is Reed Custer.