School Board Should Retain Club Transport

The Bentonville School Board is doing exactly as it needs to do in preparing for the added financial burden of operating a second high school: It's finding budget cuts where it can.

The new high school is set to open in 2016. Having set course to trim $2 million from the existing blueprint for spending, board members will undoubtedly succeed only through decisions that have an impact. After all, painlessly cutting $2 million from a budget only means it contained $2 million in overspending to begin with. There's no way to do this without it hurting a little.

What’s The Point?

When a government panel tightens its financial belt, the question to be asked isn’t solely just about the dollars and cents, but about impact. The idea to save $119,000 by cutting transportation for students to the Boys and Girls Club demands a serious evaluation.

Anyone who has managed an operational budget will tell you there's only so much nipping and tucking that can be done. At some point, it always comes down to personnel. That, indeed, is where most organizations spend most of their money.

Administrators with the school district identified six potential cuts and offered them to the school board, which has the final decision. By eliminating up to 15 teaching positions, they believe they can shave $1 million off annual appropriations. Another $633,000 will be saved by completing the final year of an employee buyout. The district suggests realigning schedules so that department heads, team leaders and other positions with less than full teaching schedules can be used to their maximums. Another $65,000 saved. The school board gave its recent approval.

But administrators also proposed nixing about $119,000 a year now being spent to haul kids after school to the Boys and Girls Club. On the one hand, it's fair to criticize the spending as beyond the traditional responsibilities of the school district. On the other, it's hard to suggest these dollars and cents are simply dollars and cents.

Every few dollars counts, but is every dollar of the same value? Clearly, board members were slightly more hesitant to accept this administration idea. Boys and Girls Club officials reminded them how making up $119,000 is "beyond our means," for a program that spends a yearly budget of $1.8 million to $2 million.

District buses have hauled kids to the Boys and Girls Club facilities for 20 years, ever since the organization opened its doors. Ted Fox, a member and past president of the club's board, said few organizations have goals more closely aligned with those of the school district. The club helps students with their academic work in its after school program, supporters said.

The budgetary target placed on the Boys and Girls Club sparked criticism from those who felt the district has wasted money on other projects. One resident voiced a common refrain when it comes to Bentonville: There always seems to be enough money for athletics.

Administrators, for good reason, are eye-balling expenses not directly related to instruction, but we wonder if the jab of the budget-cutting knife toward the Boys and Girls Club fails to adequately recognize the positive academic impact the after-school program has, and in many cases, for kids who need the after-school help most.

We wouldn't cut it.

That said, we commend the school board. When it comes to budget cutting, one cannot be afraid of the discussion involved in looking at every dollar, from academic programs to athletics. Doing that now, two years before the second high school comes online, is a smart move toward making the community transition to a dual-high school system go smoothly.

Commentary on 03/23/2014

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