SHAWNEE DISTRICT WHIPS SPENDING WOES

The Shawnee Community School District, headquartered at Wolf Lake in Southern Illinois, is a relatively small district compared to the Cape Girardeau School District. Shawnee serves some 550 students with a budget of $3.2 million.

But regardless of the size of a district, keeping track of expenses and income is a constant battle. A year ago, the Shawnee district faced a real budget crunch. The board there had to deal with the difficult task of cutting expenses, which meant eliminating some positions and some programs.

It is with some pride, then, that the Shawnee district a year later is able to report that it has pretty much whipped its financial woes. In fact, the district is looking toward adding back some programs and making some facilities improvements in the future.

For the most part, the Shawnee district's effort was a cooperative one that relied on board members, administrators, staff and parents to implement a plan that has worked in just one year. That kind of cooperation is likely to be the key in any other district, Cape Girardeau's included, that faces a similar situation.