Part one in a
series of three
Cuts in state funding for schools isn’t new news, and for weeks, Lake Orion school staff and administrators have presented analyses and studies on potential cuts to district to the school board. The analyses focus on cuts in school services and non-union staff, and are based on suggestions given to the school district during budget input meetings and via email.
The Review has collected and condensed the analyses in an effort to make the budgeting process more black and white.
What follows are summaries of one third of the analyses and the date they were presented to the board, with the remaining summaries coming in future editions. Complete analyses, are available on the district’s Website: www.lakeorion.k12.mi.us.
To watch past meetings, visit www.OrionONTV.org.

Building budget ? Jan. 13
Each school is allocated funds for purchasing teaching supplies. Up to 10 percent of a school’s yearly allocation can be carried over into the following year. If carryover was eliminated, savings would be $100,000 per year, on average.
Approximately $7,800 would be saved if the allocation was reduced by $1 per student.

Food Service ? Jan. 13
The district is able to charge the food service area for direct and indirect costs, like electricity and use of kitchen space. If the district had charged food service in the 2008-09 school year, $175,000 would go back into the general fund.

Community and Adult Education ? Jan. 13
Community Education is self-supporting and has no direct impact on the general budget.
Adult Education is funded with state aid and Federal grants and fees, and is self-supporting.

Family School Coordinators ? Jan. 13
Each elementary school has one Family School Coordinator (FSC). Duties vary by school and include peer mediation, bus duty, truancy, homework club, anger management, student council, parent consultations, coping skills and crisis prevention. If the FSCs were eliminated completely, the district would save $240,436 the first year.
If three FSCs were eliminated and the remaining four were shared between buildings, the district would save $154,044 the first year.

Print Shop ? Jan. 13
The cost of print shop operations ($124,343.60) is lower than the hypothetical cost of outsourcing the district’s printing needs ($210,000). Eliminating the print shop would cost the district about $85,000, annually.

School Cleaning Rotations ? Jan. 13
If the district reduced classroom cleaning frequency to every other day, thereby reducing second and third shift custodial staff by eight to 10 employees, it would save $65,000 per employee.
If the district reduced custodian overtime, it could save $20,000 to $30,000 per year.

Band and/or Choir after school ? Jan. 27
If band and/or choir were changed to be an after-school program, sections would have to be added to the middle school and high school schedule, which would require hiring new teachers at a cost of $65,000 each. The additional sections would be needed because band and choir classes have class sizes that exceed standard class sizes, and those extra students need to be accommodated.

Career-Focused Education ? Jan. 27
Middle school and high school career-focused education (CFE) programs are completely funded through grants and have no direct impact on the budget.
Approximately $9,200 is spent to support CFE at the elementary level. A stipulation of one of the grants funding middle and high school CFE dictates that the district have a kindergarten through 12th grade CFE program. The yearly cost to the general budget of $9,200 can be reduced or eliminated.

Guided Activities Program ? Jan. 27
Charging fees to participate is an option to offset costs.
The Guided Activities Program (GAP) coordinator’s salary is $31,350. If the Guided Activities Program (GAP) coordinator position was eliminated and a high school rep was hired for $3,750, cost savings would be $27,600. One of the coordinator’s responsibilities is to find outside revenue sources for GAP, like grants and corporate sponsors, with a goal of $27,000 per year. If the goal is reached, GAP’s cost (originally $38,960) is reduced to $11,960. If neither a coordinator nor reps maintained the program, GAP would cost the district $2,700, assuming there would be no outside revenue.

Special Education Staffing ? Jan. 27
Based on the current student population, the special education department could eliminate seven staff members, saving the district $338,436. Staffing numbers and associated costs can change year to year as needs fluctuate.

Special Education Supervisor ? Jan. 27
If the current special education supervisor were moved back into a classroom ? bumping out another teacher ? and the supervisor position eliminated, the district would save $48,348 the first year and $65,000 per year thereafter. Supervisor duties would be absorbed by the special education director.

International Academy Participation ? Jan. 27
Each district that participates in the International Academy (IA) program pays 100.393 percent of a student’s foundational allowance (funding from the state) for the student to attend. Currently, 39 Lake Orion students participate in IA, which is similar to Advanced Placement (AP) programs. In Lake Orion, the cost of sending students to IA is $1,247 in total for the 2009-10 year, which the district could have saved if it didn’t participate in the program.

High School Media Assistant ? Jan. 27
If the district eliminated the high school media assistant position, it would save $26,400. Volunteers could assume the media assistant’s non-instructional duties. Currently, the assistant allows the media center to remain open while the media specialist takes a contractual 6.25 hours per week for planning time. A supplementary position could keep the media center open during that time at a cost of $4,125, bringing the savings down to $22,275.

Elementary and Middle School Media Specialists ? Jan. 27
Four scenarios on eliminating or reducing elementary and middle school media specialists were studied. In all four scenarios, displaced media specialists would return to the classroom, bumping out teachers with less seniority. 1) If the district eliminated all ten media specialists and did not replace them, it would save $483,480. 2) If the district eliminated all ten specialists, but replaced them with ten staff associates, it would save $253,480. 3) If the districted eliminated two middle school specialists, it would save $96,696 the first year and $130,000 each year thereafter. 4) If the district eliminated two elementary specialists, it would save $96,696 the first year and $130,000 each year thereafter.

Cuts in state funding for schools isn’t new news, and for weeks, Lake Orion school staff and administrators have presented analyses and studies on potential cuts to the district to the school board. The analyses focus on cuts in school services and non-union staff, and are based on suggestions given to the school district during budget input meetings and via email.
The Review has collected and condensed the analyses in an effort to make the budgeting process more black and white.
What follows are summaries of one third of the analyses and the date they were presented to the board, with the remaining summaries coming our next edition. Complete analyses, are available on the district’s Website: www.lakeorion.k12.mi.us.
To watch past meetings, visit www.OrionONTV.org.

Middle School Assistant Principals ? Jan. 27
If the district eliminated the three assistant principals at the middle school level, it would save $247,044 the first year and $297,000 each year thereafter. Assistant principals would return to the classroom, displacing three teachers, with a reduced salary to reflect the change in position. District administrators, building principals and counselors would absorb their responsibilities.
If the district reduced middle school assistant principals to half time, it would save $123,522 the first year and $148,500 the years after. Assistant principals? remaining time would be spent in the classroom, eliminating one and a half teachers.

Middle School Counselors ? Jan. 27
The district currently has six middle school counselors, with two at each building. If the positions were eliminated, the district would save $290,088. Counselors would return to the classroom, bumping out teachers with lower seniority. In order to absorb counselor responsibilities, some staff may need training on their new duties, which could offset savings.

Police Liaisons ? Jan. 27
The district currently has two police liaisons, one at the high school and one to cover middle and elementary schools. The cost for these liaisons, contracted through Oakland County Sheriff’s Department is $122,000, which the district would save if it eliminated the liaisons.
Schools of Choice ? Jan. 27
Lake Orion Community Schools currently does not participate in open enrollment and does not accept students from other districts. If it did participate in open enrollment, there is no way to predict the amount of revenue would come to the district because 1) it’s unknown exactly how many slots would be available for outside students, 2) it’s unknown how many, if any, students from other districts would transfer to Lake Orion, 3) if students did transfer, it’s unknown what district they would come from and how much their foundation allowance (funding per student from the state) is.

Secretarial Support ? Jan. 27
Currently, 11 year-round secretaries, 19 11-month secretaries and 10 clerks work in the district.
If the district reduced four, year-round secretaries to 11-month secretaries (three in the middle schools, and one at the high school) it would save $27,200.
Or, if the district eliminated three, half-time secretaries in the middle schools, it would save $106,350.
Or, if the district changed three, half-time secretaries to three half-time clerks at the middle level, it would save $76,350.
The district could also create a two-tier pay scale, offering a lower salary for incoming secretaries, but it’s unknown what the savings would be as it is a negotiated item.

Shared Administrators Between Schools ? Jan. 27
The district could reduce the number of building administrators by sharing principals and assistant principals between buildings. Elementary schools could use ‘assistants-in-charge? and middle schools could share assistant principals. Specific savings would vary, depending on the configuration of sharing administrators. Currently, each elementary principal is a minimum of $131,611. Each middle school principal is a minimum of $133,500. Each middle school assistant principal is a minimum of $84,000.

Transportation ? Feb. 24
If the district’s schools were all open and closed on the same days and half days were eliminated, it would save $31,348. Of that, $22,950 in savings would come from eliminating busing for Carpenter’s transportation in August, and $8,398 would come from eliminating 19 non-standard days (half days).
Currently, buses arrive 20 minutes prior to the school bell, allowing students to transfer to a shuttle bus that transports them to their school of attendance. If the buses unloaded students, and then left for the Transportation Department, the district would save $20,240.
If focus school students were shuttled in the afternoon as well as the morning, the district would save $29,040. In this scenario, students from Carpenter would be dismissed early, shuttled to Orion Oaks and then transported home.
If students from the high school and Scripps Middle School rode on the same buses, the district would save $36,360.
If high school busing were eliminated, the district would save $212,152.57.
If the district eliminated busing completely, it would save $2.5 million.

School Start Times ? Feb. 24
There are no cost savings associated with juggling school start and end times.

Green Consideration Study ? Feb. 24
Study facilitators said they’d ‘hope to break even? on the costs and savings associated with a district-wide recycling program.
Some cost savings would be associated with turning off unused lights, computers, monitors and other electrical items, though specific savings are unknown.
Since alternative energy sources require funds for start-up costs, initial investments are not feasible because of current budget constraints.
Currently, the district uses Styrofoam lunch trays. There would be no savings in switching to biodegradable trays, but rather a cost increase of $44,852.08, district-wide.
The district could install dishwashers in each building at a cost of $15,000 each, for a total of $165,000, and purchase plastic lunch trays for $12,280. The start-up costs, however, far outweigh the price of Styrofoam trays, which is $8,616.96 per year.
If the district eliminated individually packaged fruit and vegetable four-ounce cups, it would save $14,361.60 per year.
‘Green? grants are available. Of those researched, all were for specific project amounts or less than $5,000.

Athletics ? Feb. 24
If all sports were self-funded, like hockey and lacrosse, while retaining administrative and other miscellaneous expenses, the district would save $352,944.
If the district implemented a tiered pay-to-play structure, with fees reflecting the actual program costs (which differ at the varsity, JV, freshmen and middle school levels), the cost savings would be the same ? $352,944.
If the athletic department were turned over to an outside organization, like a municipal parks and recreation committee, it would save $829,500.
If freshmen sports were eliminated, the district would save $68,575.
If JV sports were eliminated, the district would save $95,496.
If middle school sports were eliminated, the district would save $245,058.
After-School Activity Fees ? Feb. 24
Currently, the district charges fees for some after-school activities, but not all. In the 2008/09 school year, the total cost to the district for after-school activities was $52,635. If the district created a fee ($21.67 per participating student) to cover the total cost of after school activities, it would save $52,635.
If the district charged $15 per participating student, it would save $19,095.
If the district eliminated after-school activities, it would save $52,635, but the district is still obligated to divide that funding between each building.
If the district charged participating students fees based upon the actual cost of individual activities (anywhere from $0 to $100, depending on the activity), it would save $52,635.