CHAMPAIGN – The Champaign school board took several options for cutting its budget for next year off the table.

In a straw poll at its Monday night meeting, board members agreed to remove from consideration suggestions to:

– Cut one maintenance worker.

– Cut one enrichment position.

– Reduce the hours for the mentor coordinators.

– Eliminate a counselor position at each high school.

– And reallocate elementary social workers.

Several board members said the maintenance staff was already at bare bones. Several were also uncomfortable with cutting high school counselors, noting that the number of counselors was just increased last year by one counselor at each school, and both high schools are in restructuring.

District administrators have also removed two items from the list of possible cuts since the proposals were first presented to the board in late January. The district is no longer recommending eliminating middle school sports options or eliminating instructional technology specialists at the middle schools. The instructional technology positions are those of certified teachers who work with students, as opposed to computer lab aides, who provide technical support.

The district has recommended combining music and drama into one class at the middle schools, thus eliminating one teacher at each middle school. Instructional technology would then be included in the rotation of "encore" classes (which includes music and drama), said Deputy Superintendent Dorland Norris.

In addition, the recommendation for cutting secretarial staff at the middle schools was changed to allowing each middle school to dictate how it would cut $25,000 from its budget.

Assistant Superintendent Beth Shepperd said elementary principals were strongly opposed to cutting any literacy support positions. She said several would rather cut an enrichment position, while still keeping the enrichment program intact. Both elementary and middle school principals mentioned cutting a library clerk position as well if they had to cut a position, Shepperd said.

High school principals suggested cutting back on the number of work days for certain employees – for example, not having food service or hallway monitors at work on days when students were not in the building – rather than cutting any clerical positions, Shepperd said.

"I'm really concerned overall we're doing a lot of hacking at the secondary level," said board member Greg Novak, noting the recommendations included cutting four to six teacher positions at each high school, along with the counselor position cuts that the board decided against.

Novak said the district needs to cut between 18 and 22 positions overall, but he asked whether it could get by with making $1 million or $1.5 million in cuts, rather than $2 million. The board asked Chief Finanical Officer Gene Logas to provide a list of recommended cuts at those lesser amounts as well.

Board members generally were opposed to cutting literacy support for students, but wanted more information about literacy coaches. Board member Kristine Chalifoux noted that literacy support and enrichment are ways the district provides services to struggling and gifted students, and those services should not be cut, she said.

Board member Stig Lanesskog questioned whether the building budgets should be cut at the same level across the board, and whether this would hurt some buildings more than others. The recommendation is to cut all building budgets by 10 percent.

Lanesskog also asked what the district can cut at the administrative level, rather than the building level. Logas said administrative pay and operating budget cuts at the Mellon building made up about 40 percent of the cuts last year.

School board President Dave Tomlinson said each elementary school has the same number of administrative staff, including teachers who get pay differentials as content area chairs, building leaders or novice teacher mentors, even though the schools have vastly different enrollments.

"These are areas we can make cuts on, as opposed to direct classroom offerings," Tomlinson said. "There has to be some overlap in there."

The district will put a list of proposed cuts on its website, at http://www.champaignschools.org. It will also hold a budget workshop meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Mellon Administrative Center, 703 S. New St., C., where community members can comment on the proposed cuts.