MI: Mt Pleasant, Athletics, busing, more face cuts

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MI: Mt Pleasant, Athletics, busing, more face cuts

16-May-2011 The Morning Sun, Mt. Pleasant, MI

Oasis Alternative High School could close, support for athletics could be cut in half, transportation could be reduced, and administrative and counseling staff could be cut under a budget-cutting proposal presented Monday to the Mt. Pleasant school board.

“The process we have gone through has been quite comprehensive,” said Interim Superintendent Tammy Holder. The top priority, she said, was “keeping the reductions as far away from the classroom as possible.”

Support for athletics would be reduced by $186,342. Athletic director Jim Conway said it still wasn’t clear what kind of an impact that would have.

He said athletic fees could be increased, parents might be asked to drive students to athletic events on Saturdays, and freshman sports could face cuts. Sports such as skiing, golf and swimming could become more expensive to take part in. “We may look at moving those sports to all pay-to-play,” he said.

But many parents of athletes – and athletes themselves – objected strongly.

There are school districts around here that are just waiting for Mt. Pleasant to make those cuts,” said Sports Boosters secretary Lisa Boyd-Devern. She predicted that many students would choose to leave Mt. Pleasant to play sports elsewhere.

Conway said if 25 students chose to leave, that would cost the district as much as it would save in the athletic cutbacks.

One area spared cuts was fine arts programs. Co-curricular music, such as the marching band, as well as drama programs were spared from any cuts after a survey showed strong support for those areas.

The district is facing a potential loss of revenue and requirement for higher spending on things such as retirement and health insurance costs of more than $3.6 million. Some of that is being made up by carrying forward federal money from the EduJobs program, teacher and staff retirements, and other savings. But the district still would have to pull more than a half-million dollars from its fund balance to balance the budget.