What did the Board of Education do since they added a new school; parents are asking. The reality is that the2015 budget has been reduced by $5.5 million, while various cuts were made to cover the funding deficit due to the opening of St. Charles High School. These major alterations to the budget can significantly impact the remainder of this school year; from school performances to sport participation. Thewhole school district is being affected.

The majority of the cuts include activity buses which provided high school students rides home from after-school activities. Several temporary and part-time positions were also liquidated for a savings of $1 million. The athletic trainer program was done away with for a savings of $200,000. St. Charles High School positions were dropped for two teachers and three instructional assistant positions. Transportation savings after merging numerous public school bus routes and shifting a couple school times saved more than $500,000.

Students are directly affected by the budget cut. Perhaps a student depended on the Activity Bus after school to take them home since their parents couldn’t pick them up. Now that there is no activity bus, they might have to quit the sport altogether.  Desiree Salavar (’17) said, “Since there aren’t any more activity buses, my mom has to pick me up right when she comes off the highway from work. Sometimes there’s traffic and I have to wait longer.” Another example is the bus schedule changes. Now some kids have to take an altered route to get to their school from changes made to be more efficient with the increased bus routes needed for St. Charles High School. These are only two of many examples on how the budget cut is affecting the school district.

The 2015 budget cuts were made to withstand its deficit due to the opening of St. Charles. The Board of Education have thought effectually to emanate this response to the shortfall of resources. They have made the hard decisions for us. We just have to carry them out.