Courtesy: Google

Last Monday night the St. Johnsbury School Board approved a revised budget totaling $197,759 in cuts.  Among those cuts were several full and part time teaching positions adding up to just over $60,000, and a $65,000 reduction in the high school tuition budget next year.

More savings of $30,000 came from the shift of one teaching position from the general fund into a grant-funded slot.  The school lucked out when board members received a much lower bid than anticipated for busing and saved just under $16,000.  Technology funding was cut by $17,664 and nearly $2,500 was cut in the plant operations budget; meanwhile Superintendent Nicole Saginor and Principal Marion Anastasia volunteered to contribute more to their own health care plans; saving the school another $2,000.  Music and Special Education departments took a large cut as well, totaling a whopping $56,000.  Another $25,000 was saved when the high school band director was cut to a half-time position and the board also eliminated a half-time Special Education position, saving $31,000. The St. Johnsbury School was recently placed on the Tier 1 status, meaning it is one of the lowest performing school is the state.

The school board must choose from one of the four plans for school improvement and student performance. The board will most likely lean toward the transformative model that would require the removal of Marion Anastasia as principal.

"We just want to take a little more time before we make that decision," Chairman Werner Heidemann said. Voters are expected to decide if the proposed budget will go into effect in May.