If the 6.9-mill incremental operating levy is not approved in November, the Worthington schools will be a changed school district this time next year.

 

There will be no sports teams or extracurricular activities, except for what is paid for by parents.

At the elementary schools, there will be no librarians, no guidance counselors, no band or strings and less art, music and physical education.

Middle schools will return to the old junior high school setup, with no more team teaching.

At the high schools, there will be larger classes and fewer options, and 24 fewer teachers.

There will be no busing for high school students, beginning in January 2010, and none for elementary and middle school students living within two miles of school beginning next fall.

Those and about 30 other cuts are on the list of budget reductions approved by the Worthington school board at a special meeting on Sept. 2.

Voters will decide on the levy Nov. 3. If approved, 3.9 mills will go into effect January 2010, followed by an additional 1.5 mills in 2011 and 1.5 mills in 2012. The total cost per $100,000 of property value would be $211.

Voters turned down a 7.4-mill levy in May.

If this levy is not approved, the board must cut about $14-million from the budget within the next two years. The budget-reduction list totals approximately $15-million in savings.

It cuts 80.7 teaching positions and 45 classified positions. The numbers represent full-time-equivalents, so more than that number of people will lose their jobs.

The cuts would dig deeply into the district's athletic teams and other extracurricular activities.

If the levy fails, pay-to-participate fees would increase to $250 per sport with no family cap, beginning winter 2010.

Next fall, the only activities that would remain would be those that parents agreed to fund from their own pockets. The district would cover none of the cost.

The cuts would not be the same as those in the South-Western district, where all sports and activities were eliminated.

But in districts where the district has stopped picking up the cost, the result has been a natural selection, with major sports surviving and others being cancelled, school board president David Bressman said.

Board member Charlie Wilson said he regretted having to approve the list of reductions, but he was pleased that nonacademic-related cuts were made before those with more direct impact on the classroom.

"It is extremely important that his levy pass," Wilson said. "No area has been untouched."

A process to reconfigure elementary schools will begin immediately if the levy fails, he pointed out.

Reconfiguration means that the traditional kindergarten through grade six schools would be replaced with schools for kindergarten through grade three and grades four through six. It would save the district money through economies of scale, according to administrators.

The plan is not popular with parents, according to testimony and surveys.

A spokesperson for the district would not give assurance that reconfiguration would not happen, regardless of the outcome of the fall levy.

When asked if reconfiguration of elementary buildings would happen regardless of the outcome of the levy, spokesperson Vicki Gnezda wrote, "Future circumstances may influence the pursuit of this option."

In fact, some of the reductions on the list approved last week will be made if the levy is approved. Those cuts must total more than $4-million by 2013, and there is no list specifying which reductions would be made.

"Any one of these could still go if the levy passes," said board member Marc Schare.

Wilson said he wanted to make it clear that there would not be exceptions. If the reduction is on the list and the levy fails, the reduction will be made, he stressed.

"All of this happens," he said.

After discussion and the final, unanimous vote for the reductions list, board president David Bressman summed up the feelings of the board: "Motion carried, God save us all."