BOZEMAN — As we told you last week, the Bozeman School District is facing a $4.1 million budget deficit. The community viewed a list of recommendations on how to reduce the K-12 general fund budget at the December 12 school board meeting.
The recommendations included the closure of one smaller elementary school such as Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whittier, and Irving. Other recommendations included increasing extracurricular participation fees, reducing central office administration, eliminating Bozeman Charter School, and other staffing cuts.
On January 6, Superintendent Casey Bertram sent out a revised recommendation list. This list does not include the closure of an elementary school, but still includes options such as increasing extracurricular participation fees, reducing certified staffing, cutting department and building budgets by 10%, and reducing central elementary office or building administration.
Superintendent Bertram says these elementary and high school budget recommendations will be discussed at the board meeting tonight, January 9. These recommendations are not final and the Board of Trustees has the final say on how the district balances the $4.1 million K-12 general fund deficit. There are many moving parts and more processes that may influence the final outcome, such as the 2023 Legislative session, Spring negotiations with BSD7 collective bargaining groups, and school election levy requests in May.
There will be room for public comment during the meeting tonight. If you are unable to make it to the meeting, you can email comments to trustees@bsd.org.
