Posen board reacts to possible budget cuts

?Budget cuts? are the dirty words of the moment for school districts across Michigan, but Posen school officials have decided to follow the prudent and narrow course of common sense for the time being. ?There have been 3.8 percent cuts,? Posen superintendent Dennis Stratton informed the school board at Monday?s monthly meeting. ?There?s been more information about 11.4 percent in operating cuts for next year. Add that to the one to two percent increase in retirement costs, insurance rates, diesel fuel and heating oil going up…?

?Let?s just hold still and see what we are going to do,? Stratton advised. ?We may get some help from the Universal Service grants, and of course we?ll freeze all hiring.? Stratton hopes to get the district through to June, then hope for more information in time to create a new yearly budget. Stratton told the board he plans to meet with Rick Farfsing of Onaway for a meeting to discuss the possibility of working together for the mutual good of both the Onaway and Posen school districts.

IN THE background of worries are the mandates that may come down under the upcoming ?Leave No Child Behind? federal program, which may require some measures, but not money to fund them. Stratton told the board the budget cut formula seems to hit the poor districts the hardest, but Posen plans to take the bull by the horns and do its best to deal with the situation. Every facet of Monday?s board meeting seemed to deal with a ?tightening of the belt.? The board had, not long ago, approved the purchase of new pole vault equipment to renovate and bring up to date the pole vault for the athletic field, but when

it arrived this past week, principal Cliff Kelly sent it back, with the district only having to pay the shipping and handling to do so.

?How could we, in all good conscience, set about redoing the pole vault for $8,400 when we have such a budget crisis?? Kelly asked the board. In further cutting action, the board voted to turn down a request from coach Glenn Budnick for a JV softball team because he had only 13 interested students. The thinking of the board was that many of the students would be eligible for the varsity team anyway, and of course, the all important cost savings were a major part of the decision.

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