As enrollment keeps trending downward, Lawrence school board members on Monday heard some additional details about possible ways to cut costs, including hiring specialized positions rather than going through contractors. Executive Director of Finance Cynde Frick gave the board a budget update on Monday, which included data from the district’s annual enrollment headcount, taken every Sept. 20. The district counted 9,820 students enrolled for the 2023-24 year, down 135 from the 9,955 total for 2022-23, according to the presentation. Frick said the district could consider incentives to hire speech language pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, plumbers, carpenters and other professionals as district employees rather than filling those positions through contractors. She said although those positions are already established on salary matrices, the district has struggled to fill them in-house because it doesn’t offer competitive wages, but that it would cost less than using contractors. “We haven’t quantified the trades section of that yet, but I’m expecting it will be millions of dollars,” Frick said. “And so the question is how to make it happen. We will need support and cooperation from our unions to figure this out. But there is money there to be saved.” Enrollment is projected to continue decreasing each year through 2027-28. State funding to schools is on a per-pupil basis, so even as the amount of funding per student increases, the increase could be offset by continuing enrollment declines.
Source: The Lawrence Times
