Lakeland Joint School District 272 recently had its levy denied, causing the school to lose major funding heading into the 2025-26 school year. The district must cut $9.5 million from the budget, and officials are trying to find solutions.
For the Dec. 9 regular school board meeting agenda, Superintendent Lisa Arnold is expected to propose numerous discussion items, which will be presented to the school board.
The discussion items listed are only ideas currently and may or may not be implemented after the board discusses them.
The items listed are district rezoning, program reallocation, enrollment (teacher-student ratio), a four-day school week, a modified workday schedule, and a digital curriculum.
According to a document on the agenda, a proposal would be to consolidate next year’s elementary enrollment from the current six schools to five. One elementary principal will be retiring this year, so the proposal states that replacement will not be needed.
It was not specified as to what schools elementary students would be redistributed.
The district rezone leads to the program reallocation item on the list. A vacant building may allow for Mountain View Alternative School to move to the closed school and possibly relocate the GATE program.
Another discussion item would be to modify the work schedule for teachers. The idea is that teachers will all be teaching during every class period, allowing students to be spread across different classes and have smaller class sizes while having their prep period the last hour of the day.
Also there is a discussion item including a proposal for a 4-day school week. The superintendent claims this could cut the budget by $300,000 based on how it affected school districts like Post Falls and Kellogg. Post Falls saved $200,000 in utilities, and Kellogg saw a 2 percent increase in average daily attendance.
During the 2023-2024 school year, the district spent $134,314.50 on guest teachers on Fridays alone.
The superintendent also recommends that they continue utilizing all digital programs and licenses. Tonight, the board may discuss all of the proposed items listed above, which could have an impact as to what the school district will look like in the future.
To view tonight’s agenda, go to: https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Agenda/2129?meeting=665102
