The meeting started with a simple question, posed by David Bressman, the Worthington school board president.

"Where do we go from here?"

What ensued at the Nov. 23 board meeting was a free-wheeling exchange of ideas and philosophies only loosely aimed at guiding the district as it reduces expenditures over the next few months or years.

Superintendent of Schools Melissa Conrath left with few concrete instructions on how to proceed in reducing spending as was promised to voters before they approved a 6.9-mill operating levy last month.

Last summer, it looked like the district would be forced to cut approximately $4-million over the next three years. That amount is likely to be less because of the agreement of teachers to forgo an increase in their base pay in 2012, but a new five-year forecast has not been written. Exact amounts are not available.

Other factors, like the state budget, are difficult to predict.

According to most recent estimates by the district, another levy will be due soon, probably in 2012, and some cuts must be made to avoid a large millage size.

"Passing levies above seven mills in Worthington historically has been challenging," said board member Marc Schare. He suggested the board figure out the size of levy people would support, then work backwards to create a spending plan.

But board member Julie Keegan said that kind of thinking might "put blinders on" the district's education experts, and board member Charlie Wilson said that only one-third of voters said the size of the levy was important.

From there, Bressman suggested that the board did not have enough philosophical discussions, and encouraged each to discuss what they believe is important for the district to achieve.

He said he is a proponent of the district offering as many different programs as possible to meet the needs of children with different gifts and interests.

Closing a middle school is not important if it means strengthening the program, he said. The board has committed to making some kind of changes at the middle schools beginning with the 2010-11 school year.

Wilson agreed, offering a passionate plea for maintaining a safety net of programs for at-risk students.

"We must provide programs and curriculum that get our kids excited about coming to school," Wilson said.

Encouraging students to become attached to staff is also important, he said.

Schare said he agreed with Wilson, then posed a new way of looking at creating a budget.

Instead of making cuts in places where they will do the least harm, take a new look at building a budget from the beginning.

Start from scratch, then build a school system based on what the community values, discarding what is only tied to the past.

"Kill a few sacred cows," he said.

He said he agreed with Wilson and Bressman about the importance of programs over buildings.

"We can't realistically start from scratch," Keegan said.

Realistically, the next step is Conrath's. She will assemble a budget-review team -- made up of administrators, board members, parents and union liaisons -- to identify possible budget-cut areas. As the process progresses, the public will be kept informed through newsletters, forums, online surveys and the media.

Keep the public updated on the thought processes that go into making the spending reductions, Bressman told Conrath.

"People need to know these are not done deals," he said.