Barnstable faces possible school closures
Published on Wednesday, November 19, 2008
From CapeCodOnline - for full story go here
By MATTHEW M. BURKE
November 19, 2008
HYANNIS — The Barnstable School Committee last night discussed budget constraints that could force the closure of as many as three elementary schools next year.
Supt. Patricia Grenier presented the committee with four options on how to reduce next year's budget. The district faces a projected $5 million shortfall next year due, in part, to a lack of cash reserves, school administrators have said.
The school committee will consider Grenier's options over the coming weeks.
One option calls for 12- to 15-percent budget cuts in each school district department, Grenier said. The cuts could prompt as many as 100 layoffs across the district, she said, adding the cuts would also spell the end of classes such as art and music in the elementary schools. "(That) is really just tweaking around the edges," she said of trimming 15 percent from next year's budget. "It's hard to tweak $5 million."
