Following a lengthy budget workshop session held Saturday, members of the Providence Board of Education agreed the next step in the process should be to review “scenarios” that would accurately reflect the district’s budget based on various options available to the school board.

The scenarios will range from maintaining the status quo to moving high school students to Broadway Elementary to implementing a full merger with the Webster County school district.

The board also considered a series of potential cuts, many of which will likely appear in the proposed budget to be presented to the school board during a special called meeting Wednesday night.

Among the suggestions:

•elimination of “extra service” pay for assistant boys and girls basketball coaches;

•reduction in Extended School Service pay to $12 per hour;

•elimination of a one-day rate of pay for all certified staff (at a projected total cost to the district of $10,000);

•elimination of “non-reimbursed transportation,” including field trips and extra-curricular activities;

•a reduction in the number of phone lines;

•implementation of a rental fee for the use of student textbooks, and a per-student school fee;

•elimination of industrial arts, business, and music staff positions;

•elimination of “non-essential” travel for district staff;

•elimination of board retreats;

•cutting substitute teacher costs by assigning full-time staff to cover classes during their planning time; and,

•utilizing Webster County’s Area Technology Center for vocational courses.

As of Tuesday, district officials said they were still trying to determine the potential level of savings the proposals would add to the budget. Right now, the district needs to come up with roughly $257,000 in order to balance its budget for the coming school year.

Even though the Providence Board of Education agreed in April to open talks with the Webster County Board of Education, Providence school board members remain divided on the issue, and so far, only one informal meeting between the two board’s chairs has actually taken place.

A meeting tentatively scheduled for Monday was cancelled, with a new tentative date set for June 14.

But the Providence school board is operating under a tighter deadline. School district superintendent Edwina Slack told the board previously it has until May 30 to adopt a balanced budget. The date is a state mandated deadline.

The board has already considered and rejected two budget proposals, both of which were deficit budgets. The financial difficulties come at a time when teachers are proposing a series of changes to improve scholastic achievement that would cost the district even more.

Scholastic achievement is the main concern for many in the district, including Slack.

“I’m not worried about buildings; we have to try to find a way to do all the things that have to be done to meet student achievement,” Slack said when asked about current plans for the aging high school.

She also expressed concern about the difficulty of attracting new teachers to the district. She agreed that the ongoing merger talks makes the search even more difficult.

The state department of education has recommended the building be closed, going so far as to declare it “in the poorest condition relative to other Kentucky schools.”

Slack said she expects the board will be presented a balanced budget for review at their special called meeting Wednesday night.

“I feel sure (district finance officer) Sharon (Layton) and I will have a balanced budget for them,” Slack said. “It is going to require a lot of compromise for them. Everyone will have to give a little extra. It will depend on if the board feels like what we’ve had to cut can be let go.”

Slack said cuts to be considered would include some employees’ benefits, “rearranging the schedule to reduce staff,” and closing of vacant positions through attrition.

Slack added that the district will also have to all but eliminate costs associated with professional development. Most of that was being funded through receipt of a “high schools at work” grant that was cut after grant administrators determined Providence school district teachers weren’t meeting mandated goals associated with the grant award.