Budget adjustments approved at Board of Education meeting

To address a $4.6 million budget shortfall caused by rollbacks in State funding for the past years and rising costs in health care and retirement the Board of Education approved a series of budget adjustments Wednesday to balance the budget.

Some of those adjustments will affect high school families with a small increase to high school parking fees, the elimination of family athletic passes and strict adherence to pay-to-play numbers for athletic teams.

Families will still be able to buy athletic punch cards that will allow entry to sporting events at a discount rate.

Strict adherence to minimum athletic participation numbers for teams is expected to save $50,000. In the past, teams with below the minimum number of students were provided but in the future the District will adhere to the minimum numbers based on the pay-to-play receipts on a specific payment deadline.

It will also cost high school students an additional 25 cents per week to park at the high schools as student parking fees were increased to $30 per year.

In addition to a number of budget cuts for the 2010-2011 year, the Board also downgraded an administrative position in the Business Office as part of the effort to eliminate the budget shortfall.

These actions were in addition to savings from teacher retirements, employee contract concessions, elimination of certain support staff positions, the postponement of bus purchases and a withdrawal of $1.7 million from the District’s savings, among other budget saving measures.

Board of Education changes locations of two April meetings

There are changes in location for two April meetings of the Lapeer Community Schools Board of Education. The changes are:

The April 1 regular board meeting will be in the Administration and Services Center.

The April 15 work session will be at Rolland-Warner Middle School.