Vote ‘yes’ on Baldwin school budget

The financial challenges facing Baldwin schools in the next few years are imposing, to say the least. The budget proposal offered by the Board of Education is the best way to approach a situation fraught with pitfalls. We urge voters to approve it next Tuesday.

A state funding reduction of nearly $2.5 million threatens to mandate core cuts to programs district wide. Government funding has, in the past, accounted for 22 percent of the school budget. The remainder of Baldwin’s education program is then paid for via a tax levy (71 percent) and various other sources like applied fund balances (7 percent).

Obviously, since schools must be paid for, if the government cuts its contribution, the deficit must be made up through a combination of cuts, taxes and allotments from “rainy day” funds and other sources. The budget the school board has submitted represents the best plan for accomplishing this.

Having watched the drafting and redrafting of this spending plan, a process in which the potential tax levy increase was whittled down from 8.5 percent to a more manageable 3.5 percent, we appreciate how thoroughly each decision has been considered. Make no mistake, this proposal includes a number of grim choices. Cuts to transportation and clerical personnel, the merging of certain principal positions and a reduction in nursing services, are not easy to stomach, and will mean that some familiar faces will be gone next year. Likewise, the elimination of elementary summer schooling and a small projected increase in class size throughout the district are not developments anyone welcomes. But a school budget always is, and always should be, about the students. This one will serve their greater good while having the least impact on the environment in which they will grow. Residents should show their support for it.