By: Jessica Rae
jrae@kcautv.comT
The Sioux City School District has only two weeks to finalize its budget plan, and between now and then it's going to have to come up with some deep cuts.
Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Paul Gausman says, "The sequestration doesn't impact all districts the same. Districts that have a higher rate of poverty will have a greater affect through the sequestration. We are a district that has 62% of our students on a free or reduced lunch, which is the only federal measure of poverty."
Gausman says there are three areas the school district must cut staff.
The first, is Title I Reading, there may be up to twelve staff members cut from this program.
The second program, is Special Education, the school board may have to cut up to five staff members, but there's one more that could see fifteen positions cut.
Gausman says, "A program called the Early Intervention Block grant; that grant is given to all school districts and it helps school districts staff early grade elementary classrooms with a few more teachers."
Again, the budget is not finalized, but Gausman says even after cuts are made, if the budget allows for more staff to stay on than they had originally planned, they will ask for those staff members to come back.
The Sioux City School District will meet on Monday at it's regular time, to present it's budget plan to the board.
