The very difficult economic situation that our country and community is facing has all of us making cuts. Our schools are no different. Last week I had the unpleasant, but necessary, task of recommending a number of cost reduction proposals to the Fairfield Board of Education.

I’m certain there is a news article in today’s Echo reporting on those proposals so I won’t detail all of them here. They are also listed on our school district web site, at www.fairfieldcityschools.com. To very briefly summarize them, they involve eliminating a number of jobs, including many teachers, who comprise the largest part of our workforce. The cost reduction proposals also include reassigning other employees, ending or modifying some of our programs and restructuring class schedules in ways that are less expensive.

The school board did not take any immediate action on my recommendations. At their March 18 meeting the board members will indicate which recommendations should move forward.

I was very proud of our staff, students and community members who came to the school board meeting last week. Many other school districts are also making cuts, and we have all seen stories about angry confrontations at school board meetings, name calling, screaming, and so on. That didn’t happen in Fairfield. People spoke passionately about the issues, questioning whether the best choices were being made. But there were no personal attacks, there was no name calling, there was no yelling. These are serious issues that affect people’s careers and lives, as well as students’ educations, and I am grateful that everyone there approached it that way.

One question that was asked at the meeting, and that has been asked many times since, is why the schools don’t run a levy instead of making cuts. It is ultimately the Board of Education’s decision, but Jerome Kearns, the board president, spoke to that issue. He said that there will certainly be a levy at some point in the future. That is how schools are funded. Voters last approved a levy in 2004 and it was expected to last for three years. We are still running on that levy six years later. But, he added, the community expects us to do everything we can to reduce costs before asking voters for a tax increase, not the other way around. That is what we are doing.

This is the time for the community to offer its input to the Board of Education members about my proposals. If readers have access to the Internet, the board members’ contact information is available on our school district web site. If not, just call our Board of Education office at (513) 829-6300 and our receptionist will be glad to help.

The answers are easy if the only concern is providing a great education. The answers are also easy if the only concern is cutting costs. I have to do both, and the answers are not easy at all.

Published in the Fairfield Echo, March 11, 2010.