SHAWNEE BOARD ENACTS CUTS

WOLF LAKE, Ill. -- The Shawnee Board of Education has adopted a list of program and personnel cuts in addition to increasing some prices in an effort to meet its budgets.

The cuts were adjusted to reflect opinions expressed at a school board meeting that ran late into the night Wednesday. About 40 people, half of them teachers, asked the board to delay the cuts. The cuts and price increases had been proposed earlier.

Shawnee School District superintendent Dewaine Prater said the measures, including hikes in meals, book rentals and sports tickets, would increase school district revenue by $116,000. About $20,000 will be saved by not ordering new textbooks this year, he said.

The district's budget is $3 million, said Prater.

Prater said the district was projected to run at a $150,000 deficit this year. The district has lost $160,000 over the last three years. Prater said had it not been for reserves the cuts would have been made sooner.

"This district is not broke; we're just trying to keep from going broke," he said. "We want to make some moderate cuts now to try to get a balanced budget again. Otherwise, in three or four years we'll have to look at severe cuts."

The board approved a 15-cent increase in the price of a student breakfast after objections to a proposed 20-cent hike. It increased the student lunch price by 25 cents, to $1.25.

"We lost $6,000 from the cafeteria alone," he said.

The board responded to audience suggestions to cut $960 from the budget for transporting sports teams to the state tournament.

The largest saving, Prater said, would come when business teacher Nancy Shock leaves for another job. The school will not fill her spot, saving it $35,000.

The cost-saving measures also include reducing two full-time teachers to part time.

Prater said enrollment has been dropping in the district and that trend doesn't look to end. He said with the number of students declining it is just a matter of time before the district lets some teachers go.

Gene Matthews, president of the Shawnee Education Association, said Gov. Jim Edgar has proposed an additional $230 million in public education support for the 1997-98 fiscal year. The state is also planning to change the funding formula which could move a larger percentage of state money to rural school systems.

Prater said he'd need a crystal ball to see how much money Shawnee would actually see from the state. "We could get more money, it could stay the same or these changes could actually hurt us," he said.