A draft of the Mancos School District budget presented Tuesday evening would cut $452,000 — eleven percent of the district’s total annual budget — by reducing several expenditures and cutting 10 positions from the district’s staff.

The draft plan that Mancos School Superintendent Larry Swain presented to the school board calls for a $90,600 cut in line-item spending (supplies and purchased services), $146,086 savings in 1999-2000 expenditures that will not be repeated, and $225,959 in staff reductions that would eliminate 10 positions from the Mancos School District staff.

Of the 10 staff positions targeted in the proposal, three are already being vacated by resignation or early retirement, accounting for $94,688 of the total reduction. High school librarian Janet Wilson and sixth-grade teacher Georgia Chermak have requested early retirement and high school social studies teacher Amy Novak is resigning to enter law school; these actions were approved earlier in the board meeting.

The other earmarked positions include full- and part-time elementary teachers, elementary aides, elementary counselor, elementary custodian, and elementary and secondary art.

Asked about the emphasis on elementary school staff cuts, Swain said the emphasis was because that is the area where the decline in enrollment has been seen.

Responding to a mandate by the Mancos District Re-6 School Board to balance the budget in three years, the district administrative staff sized up the task. Using the latest data on enrollment and funding, they added $144,308 (the average drop in funding because of declining enrollment) to the $308,000 the district is taking from reserves this year and came up with a target reduction of $452,308.

Swain said he and the administrative staff decided to take the "big hit" staff reduction and reallocation of staff in the first year, so that the subsequent years can be relatively stable, eliminating the spring budget crisis that has marked recent years.

The numbers Swain presented to the board and about 30 staff and citizens at the special board meeting Tuesday actually exceed the target by $10,000. However, the administration’s draft has no provision for raises (roughly $50,000), so there is still a shortfall of $40,000.

Under the draft plan, the exact allocation of funds within the elementary school would be decided by elementary school principal Sine Skaggs in conjunction with her staff and the accountability committee.

Board president Tanya Young noted the budget input received from staff and parents divided evenly — the number opposing specific programs equaled the number of supporters. Many of the topics of controversy are activities, such as band, athletics, academic decathlon, etc.

High school principal Gary Hill pointed out the total budget for all activities is $108,000 — only 2.6 percent of the district’s budget — and less than a quarter of the reductions required by the board if activities were totally eliminated.

Swain and Young emphasized that this is a draft, a starting point, a proposal to discuss and refine to get to the real budget. Copies are available at the elementary, middle and high schools, and a copy will be put in the Mancos Public Library. Swain encouraged people to read the draft and offer comments and suggestions to the members of the school board: Tanya Young, Raymond Keith, Paul Wilson, Connie Small and Jon Bower.