Many ways to trim school budgets

Regarding "How to cut school budgets?" [Opinion, March 10], rather than laying off teachers, great savings could be had if schools shared certain essential services. Based on my experience as a former school board president and village mayor, it requires a situation as serious as the one we face today to get public officials to look deeply into the real issues with school budgets. The public has elected people who, though well-meaning, are often looking at solutions through the eyes of teachers and their relatives, not through the eyes of cost-effectiveness.

One solution would be sharing nutritionists across several districts. School districts should also be merged, allowing superintendents to handle more schools. But if we do not want to conform to the norm of the rest of the country by combining small districts, then we could look at the district office administrators overseeing more schools.

Parents who send children to private schools should be looked on as saving districts money, not as an expense. Compare the cost of educating a child -- $20,000 to $30,000 a year -- to the few hundred dollars it costs to bus them. Increasing eligibility miles for busing should be the last thing considered.

I believe teachers' and administrators' salaries should be frozen at today's rate and scheduled for cost-of-living increases, which is better than most taxpayers get. The "last in, first out" policy was enacted to placate ineffective senior teachers, whose jobs should be earned and based on merit, not seniority. Corrective action can only be taken against these senior teachers when letters of reprimand are written, which is uncommon because administrators need to provide just cause via due process, which is not easily obtained.

Principals tend to forget that they work for the parents, and not fellow educators, to provide children with not only a stellar education, but with role models who show that hard work pays off.

The best teachers should be paid better based on what is happening in the classroom. Much needs to be accomplished to help hardworking young educators who are doing all they can to provide for the future of America.

Robert Thompson

Saint James