Buying time

Each district in Utah has to make cuts, and each will have to decide debt-reducing actions within their individual districts. There was a School Board meeting on March 31 to address cuts, but the city is just starting the discussions.

 

There was about a 3 percent cut for the 2008-2009 school year.  The state was able to take money from the roads to give to the schools.
 

The district got a budget for the school year. However, due to the current financial situation, the tax revenue the state thought they would get didn't come. What the district did get is what is known as "one-time money."
 

There was intended to be a 17 percent cut for next year. Thanks to the 10 percent one-time government subsidy, the Federal Government reduced that original debt to 7 percent.
 

The budget is "up in the air," said Vice Principal Dave MacNaughton. He also pointed out that the current situation is "not as scary as next year will be."

Park City's budget comes from Federal, State, and County allowances.  Unfortunately, there are several problems with Park City's county budget this year.

 

Firstly, the city's revenue comes mainly from property tax. This is due to the large amount of vacation homes that are only lived in part-time, but are still subjected to homeowner's taxes. However, property values are based on the previous year's values, and the actual values have dropped since then. Therefore, "we are a year behind in revenue," says MacNaughton.
 

Second, tourism is down 30 percent. While that does not affect the property values, we are still down 10 percent of income that would otherwise have been gained from tourists. This may mean that there will either be increasing cuts, or the economy will turn and save the city additional ramifications.
 

This year there was a 1.7 million dollar state budget cut.  700,000 was cut automatically, eliminating Professional Development Days.  Park City could raise taxes to fund these days on their own.  As an additional option, the state is allowing as many as five days to be cut from the coming school year.  While students could have five extra days outside of school, teachers will be out four days of pay.
 
"We are just covering our bases," said MacNaughton.  He went on to say that the school is being "very proactive.  We will do everything we can to keep up the level of education."

An easy way to get rid of excess deficit is faculty cuts.  Un-tenured teachers are at greatest risk for being let go.  Thirty teachers are under this category at PCHS.  If any teachers were being considered, they must recieve notice at least 60 days before the end of term.  That way, if it is necessary to fire them at the end of the year, teachers will be prepared.  If PCHS chose this route, letters would have already been sent.  This year there are about 70 teachers at our school, but we may end up with fewer teachers next year.

While we didn't cut anything this year, some MATC (Mountainland Applied Technology College) classes, such as American Sign Language, may be cut because they lost funding. Smaller classes may disappear, as they need around 23 students to continue next year.
 
"We go by overall numbers," said MacNaughton.  "At some point we need to decide if we can run low numbers."
 
If not, some classes may be fuller.  The administration will need to evaluate how important some programs are, both to the students and the parents.

"I am disappointed that my most looked-forward-to class has been cancelled," says Park City sophomore Jessica Boone, referring to the drop of Japanese I.