Budget cuts proposed for activities

To help alleviate a minimum $574,415 shortfall in the high school district, Kalispell Public Schools officials are recommending $100,000 in cuts to the activities budget.

Mark Dennehy and Frank Jobe, activities directors at Glacier and Flathead high schools, outlined 14 proposed cuts at the school board’s regular meeting Tuesday.

Making cuts to activities  is really a multi-year process, Dennehy said. Many high school activities already have faced cuts over the last few years as the district has tried to balance its budget, but some programs have been largely unaffected.

“It’s important that we take a global view,” Dennehy said Tuesday. “Some of these areas have not really been hit in the four-year process.”

That’s why some programs are facing larger cuts than other activities in the most recent recommendations, he said.

On Thursday, Dennehy  went over each possible reduction, listed in order of priority, with the Inter Lake.

1. Eliminate two overnight trips on the high schools’ speech and debate schedule.

In 2010-11, Flathead and Glacier’s speech teams had eight competitions. The schools hosted two meets; the rest required travel to Helena, Missoula, Corvallis, Billings, Butte and Great Falls.

Most meets are two days, which means hotel costs are included in travel expenses. Officials estimate eliminating trips to Billings and Helena will save about $8,000.

“It’s a statewide movement, adjusting this schedule,” Dennehy said. “All schedules in the state of Montana reflect this.”

2. Eliminate coaches’ allowance for clothing.

By not paying for the polo shirts coaches wear on game day, the district could save $7,000.

“They can figure out their own mechanism within the program” to buy their own shirts, Dennehy said.

3. Reduce the music supply budget and eliminate meals.

The reduction “is very close to the athletic supply budget piece,” Dennehy said. “It’s about 20 percent of their budget as well.”

The music supply budget covers everything from purchasing instruments to repairing instruments to buying the music itself, Dennehy said.

Eliminating meals refers to postseason trips. The Booster Club covers first-day meals on those trips. Until now, the district has paid for second-day meals.

Those meals will be cut in music and all other activities, Dennehy said.

The reductions to the music budget could save $4,000.

4. Reduce the athletic supply budget by 20 percent.

The supply budget already has taken hits over the years, Dennehy said. The new cuts will vary depending on the sport.

Wrestling might not buy as many headgears, he said. Track and field might not buy new pole vaulting poles or other equipment.

Officials estimate the supply budget reduction could save $20,000.

5. Eliminate second-day meals for all sports and speech teams.

Like the music cut, this proposal refers specifically to postseason travel. The district will no longer pay for meals on the second day of postseason road trips, a move that will save an estimated $10,000.

6. Add theater gate to activity revenue.

High school theater groups use money from ticket sales to help fund their programs. The money covers everything from supplies to the rights to use plays, Dennehy said.

How much those ticket sales bring in depends on the school and on the year, but each school’s theater program generates between $8,000 and $10,000 annually, he said.

The district proposes taking $5,000 from each school to support the overall activities budget.

7. Reduce the junior varsity/sophomore football schedules and eliminate one stipend.

This will affect the Saturday games during football season, Dennehy said. Teams that play on Saturdays would travel only to Missoula.

By limiting the teams’ travel, the district will save about $10,000.

To make up for the games the teams will miss out on, officials hope to add an extra crosstown matchup for Flathead and Glacier squads. Some junior varsity players may also see some varsity playing time, Dennehy said.

8. Eliminate pep band travel to state basketball.

Cutting out the bands’ travel to that tournament could save up to $7,000.

9. Share travel on cross country and wrestling trips.

If Flathead and Glacier teams travel together to cross country and wrestling meets, the district could save about $4,000.

Kalispell’s golf teams already travel together, and other teams have shared travel to some meets, Dennehy said. The district hopes to consolidate its travel costs even more in 2011-12.

10. Eliminate two intramural stipends.

This proposal, which would save about $8,000, would affect the advisers who cover the schools’ intramural volleyball and dodgeball programs. Advisers schedule and officiate games and have general oversight of the programs, which typically last six to seven weeks each, Dennehy said.

He explained Tuesday why officials recommended the cut.

“In a perfect world, we’d like to see intramurals touch all the kids in our buildings who are not involved” in sports already, he said. “But we’re not reaching those kids.”

Dennehy said Thursday that about 20 percent of the students in intramurals are not already involved in high school sports.

11. Adjust Special Olympics funding.

By eliminating one stipend and adjusting some hourly wages, the district would be able to save $3,000.

Two paraprofessionals coach Special Olympics athletes in basketball and track and field events, Dennehy said. They hold practices a couple times a week for about a five-week period, which the district has long supported. It also supports athletes by sending athletes to competitions.

The savings will come through “the way the program’s going to be administered,” he said. “It was paid for through a stipend; we’re not going to do a stipend any longer.”

12, 13 and 14. Eliminate AA festival travel for band, choir and orchestra.

Rather than paying for travel to music festivals, at which students perform for and are judged by adjudicators with expertise in the music field, the district hopes to host more festivals, Dennehy said. This would save an estimated $9,000 and still give students the educational opportunity.