Schools rule out cuts in some programs

Athletes, young mothers and middle school librarians will be spared when Spokane Public Schools writes its final budget for the 2007-08 school year, the district announced Thursday.

When 17-year-old Megan Stedman, a teen mother who attends Havermale High School, heard the news she was thrilled.

Her 2-year-old son, Ethan, stays at the day care in the school each day while she attends classes, and twice a week while Stedman participates in school leadership activities.

“If there was no day care, I would have just got my GED,” Stedman said.

“A lot of girls would have missed out on the opportunity to go to school if there wasn’t a day care,” she said.

“The staff is great,” she added.

“Half the time I drop him off and he just runs off to play.”

The child care program at the alternative high school, which is used by 15 teen mothers, was among several items on the chopping block for the upcoming school year, Spokane Public Schools previously had announced.

Although officials are still faced with a $10.5 million budget gap, the school board has ruled out five potential cuts that had been on the table.

In addition to the child care program, the school board also decided to save freshman sports; middle school intramural sports will not be reduced; middle school librarians’ jobs are safe, although a proposal still exists to reduce the hours worked by some elementary librarians; and high school career specialists won’t be cut.

The school board already has decided to close Pratt Elementary School as a cost-saving measure – a decision that brought protests from residents of the Edgecliff neighborhood on the western edge of Spokane Valley.

Other cuts under consideration include reducing the number of office positions and custodians, reconfiguring high school department heads, restricting travel and redrawing school attendance areas to save transportation costs, among others.

But even if all those steps are taken, the district must come up with an additional $1.2 million in savings. District administrators are expected to present a balanced budget to the board on June 13, and the board is expected to approve a final budget during its Aug. 8 meeting.