Some Evanston residents voiced strong disapproval Thursday for Evanston/Skokie District 65 budget reduction proposals that would cut deep into student programs and eliminate some teaching positions.
About 400 parents, teachers and students attended a forum at Chute Middle School, 1400 Oakton St., where they spent hours debating how to balance the budget.
Administrators and school board members proposed in early December cutting $4.5 million from the district’s $74.7 million 2002-03 budget. The biggest cuts involve hiring fewer teachers for kindergarten through fifth grade, assigning more students per middle school teacher and shrinking the library, fine arts and language programs.
Parents and teachers argued that reducing the teaching staff and cutting programs would deprive children of necessary life skills and opportunities. But D65 Superintendent Hardy Ray Murphy said the cuts might be the only way to balance the budget.
“This is not anything that is easy for us,” Murphy said. “But we’ve run out of options for cutting other items.”
In years past, district administrators have covered budget deficits by cutting one-time appropriations and transferring money from surplus funds, Murphy said. The district also has purchased fewer materials and supplies.
But these options have been exhausted and new ways of reducing expenditures must be enacted, Murphy said. He said cuts from language and arts programs might be necessary, but he promised not to cut from core subjects such as English, math, science and language arts.
But D65 teachers and employees were dissatisfied with this compromise. Sandy McDermott, who has taught at Nichols Middle School, 800 Greenleaf St., for 18 years, said middle school teachers should not be assigned more students, and class size should not increase.
“The purpose of education is to interact with each child,” said McDermott, who currently teaches about 150 students. “That wouldn’t be possible if I had to teach more students.”
Dewey Elementary School Librarian Marilyn Crocker disagreed with the budget item that seeks to halve the district’s number of librarians and eliminate library assistants. The proposal would force librarians to travel between schools during the day.
Crocker said the primary responsibilities of librarians are to teach students research skills and encourage them to read. Checking out and shelving books is secondary.
“I’m very concerned that if I have to cover two libraries, I will spend all my time maintaining library collections,” she said. “That means I wouldn’t have time to spend with parents and children, which is what is really important.”
Parent Julie Chernoff said she disagrees with reducing the number of bilingual teachers for elementary school children. Her two children attend Orrington Elementary School, 2636 Orrington Ave., where they are enrolled in classes taught in Spanish and English. If a teacher is cut, they could be placed in English-only classrooms.
“A bilingual education is very important to me,” Chernoff said. “I don’t want my children to lose this opportunity.”
Other parents said the school should attempt to raise revenue instead of cutting programs as a means to balance the budget. They suggested applying for more state grants, holding community fund-raisers or forming business partnerships as ways to make money.
Anther suggestion was to place a referendum on the March ballot that would raise taxes to cover the deficit. While several community members supported the idea, school board member Mary Rita Luecke said referendums involving raising taxes for this purpose rarely pass. And the deadline to file the referendum request is Monday.
The school board encourages community members to submit more suggestions on how to balance the budget, which must be approved by the end of September.
“People are speaking up with great passion because the district’s programs have done so much for their children,” said Mary Erickson, board vice president. “We encourage these suggestions and will try to make the best choice possible.”
