The Havre Public Schools are planning for next year’s budget, but those plans will have to take one of two courses after the upcoming mill levy election.
On Tuesday, the constituents of the high school and elementary districts will decide whether or not to give the schools a total of $171,000, $98,000 for the high school and $73,000 for the elementary district.
Depending on how the vote goes, Superintendent Andy Carlson’s work planning the immediate future of the schools will either be hard or harder.
“It’s a very difficult spot to be in, ” Carlson said. “I wish it were different, but that is the reality of where we’re at right now. ”
The superintendent has said that the district is already making decisions about how it can afford to operate.
“I believe that everything that we are doing is extremely important, ” Carlson said. “If it wasn’t, it would be easy.
“It’s going to have an impact. Some are more visible than others. ”
One of the ways the schools are already cutting back is in facilities and maintenance costs, purchasing fewer supplies such as paint and concrete.
“I know about facility and what it means to upkeep it, ” Carlson said, “but there are areas that we know we’re going to have to trim back. ”
Cuts in athletics and activities are also being considered.
In general staff and faculty, the superintendent said that he is trying to do what he can to not have to get into layoffs.
“We’re trying to do everything we can through retirements and resignations, ” Carlson said.
He added that all of this is particularly difficult, as the schools are already working off of budget amounts from a few years ago. Activities departments and the Havre Middle School are operating on amounts comparable to 2008.
“You don’t do more with less, ” Carlson said. “We aren’t going to operate with the same amount of personnel that we have in prior years. ”
Havre’s situation is not an isolated one. Carlson talked about budget crunches across the state, many worse than in Havre.
Missoula’s school district is hoping its $5.1 million mill levy can help prevent a planned layoff of 90 teachers.
Carlson had some hope that the Legislature would come through with at least a bit more funding. A bill sponsored by Sen. Llew Jones would have given the district an additional $300,000 to $400,000.
“For me that was a much better idea for what we needed, ” Carlson said, “but we’re going to deal with what we have. ”
The superintendent said the economic future of the district is still hazy with the mill levy vote and some loose ends from the legislature, but he hopes that Tuesday’s vote will not only make that future clearer, but brighter.
“If folks saw what happens in the buildings every day, they’d be reassured that the education our kids receive is of good quality. ”
