At another in a series of tense public meetings Wednesday, Lakeland School District administrators — minus the superintendent — went back and forth with trustees on how to cut $9.52 million from the budget after a November levy failure.

Clearly at odds, the two sides pointed fingers at who was responsible for crafting cuts, while trustees continue to be reluctant to propose the levy again in May. 

Wednesday’s two-hour meeting ended with no solutions, other than scheduling another special meeting for Dec. 30.

“We will work on (the budget), but again, I need direction,” said a frustrated Lakeland CFO Jessica Grantham.

Trustee David Quimby pushed back, saying the board runs on recommendations from the superintendent and asked for a plan. 

Superintendent Lisa Arnold was recovering from shoulder surgery and did not attend Wednesday’s meeting, leaving Grantham and assistant superintendent Lynn Pasley to field questions.

Lakeland has relied on a supplemental levy for most of the past 15 years and it has grown to represent nearly 25% of its budget. The $9.52 million a year levy expires July 1 and a November effort to replace it failed. Trustees could try to run it again in May, possibly for a lower amount.

Either way, time is running out and salaries, safety and extracurricular activities are at risk of being cut. 

“I do need that direction in order to build the budget,” Grantham said. “Are we closing schools? Are we cutting personnel? What are we doing?” 

Frustrations bloom

Tensions have escalated and talk of cuts has been ineffective since the November levy ask failed.

Trustees have said they do not want to cut teachers or increase class sizes, but Paslay said any cuts will impact students.

“Everything here impacts our kids, impacts our community, impacts our students,” she said.

Staff presented spreadsheets on Wednesday in answer to board requests to clarify what the levy funds.

The spreadsheets also provided preliminary dollar amounts to proposals such as closing an elementary school or moving to a four-day-school week. They also affirmed that if the district quit paying for extra activities, families could have to pay $1,800 per student to participate in sports or things like band.

Trustees’ questions made it clear that they didn’t feel the data dump gave them enough information to start making cuts.

The board spent the first 90 minutes of the meeting asking mostly about transportation, a relatively inexpensive line item, as tension grew in the Lakeland High commons where nearly 200 people sat watching. 

Trustee David Quimby attacked staff stipends, saying the $600,000 line item needs to be addressed. 

 “We have teachers and admins with their hands out all the time. If you’re a teacher, you’re a leader,” Quimby said. “You don’t get a stipend for going to a meeting, okay? Period. We’ve got to cut them away. Nobody in the real world gets these stipends.” 

The crowd erupted into laughter and chatter. 

“People get paid for their work,” one person loudly interjected. 

Quimby then criticized spending on crossing guards, arguing that should be part of a teacher’s duties. Two teachers ran up to the microphones to address the board. 

“We don’t get stipends for meetings,” one said, before asking Quimby to not minimize teacher’s work. 

Quimby, a former Marine, pointed to mentorship stipends as extra, arguing that in the military you don’t get paid to train others. He then said many people present at the meeting make more than anyone in the military.

“We have degrees,” someone in the crowd yelled out. 

“Yeah, for what?” Quimby responded. 

The crowd burst into laughter as Thompson stepped in. 

“This isn’t going to be productive if you guys start attacking us based on our frustrations that have been built up over the years,” Thompson said. “Everyone keeps saying, just rerun the levy, but I’m here to tell you, if it doesn’t pass, what are we going to do then? So we need to know where we’re at and what dollars we need to look at, where we can cut back.”

Shannon Rider, a parent, district employee, and former teacher, said she’s worried about how the meeting was going.

“We’ve just sat and nitpicked through each line item,” Rider said. “If you have questions, ask a question respectfully.”

Lakeland High Principal James Hoffman added that time is of the essence because his school had already lost 70 to 80 students to the Coeur d’Alene School District and the deadline for priority transfers is February 1. 

“I fear if we don’t make decisions and give some parents some answers soon, specifically on extracurriculars, I think we’re going to lose a lot more,” Hoffman said.

As things calmed down, Paslay asked the board if they are ready to give direction to staff.

“What are some areas that you guys are comfortable saying you could potentially cut?” Paslay said. “I think people want to hear some solutions.” 

Quimby pushed back, arguing that the board needed a recommendation from staff.

“Are you asking for a recommendation?” Paslay responded. “As the assistant superintendent and a mom of three boys that went through all of our schools, I’m asking you to rerun it.” 

The crowd erupted into applause and gave Paslay a standing ovation. 

Grantham then again asked the board for direction on how they’d like her to calculate the budget proposal without the levy. 

“Within the school buildings, I don’t see that there is a lot of positions that should be removed,” Thompson responded. “Regardless, I firmly believe that the levy has to fund athletics. So we need a solid dollar amount on that. They need to fund our safety and security programs. We need a solid dollar amount on that.”

Trustee Randi Bain retorted, “They gave it to us. It’s right here.” 

She began reading off totals of what could be cut from the spreadsheet provided by Grantham. Bain then said she would be comfortable re-running the levy in May at $7.5 million but that they need to prepare a budget without the levy because the May election date is just weeks away from state budget deadlines for the next school year. 

It wasn’t until after 8 p.m., two hours after the meeting started, that the $6 million in staff salaries funded by the levy was mentioned explicitly. A patron asked if having the budget options ready next month is feasible, which led to Grantham again asking the board for direction on where to make cuts.

Thompson responded that they’re cutting out $9.52 million in levy funds and began reading off totals from the ballot language. 

“I understand that, but where do you want me to cut them? Do you want me just to start picking people at random?” Grantham said. “I need to know what positions you want me to cut.”

She went on to spell out that she can’t cut the $6 million in salaries just from staff that aren’t teachers and in order to cut teachers, she needs direction. 

Ultimately, Trustee Ramona Grissom said they needed more time to process the presented data and the board scheduled a business meeting, to ask staff further questions, for Dec. 30 at 5:30 p.m.