School Budget Gains Tentative Approval…
Sports Funding Likely Restored
The Siuslaw School Budget Committee wrapped up their work earlier this week, putting the finishing touches on a proposed budget that, if approved by elected officials, would add three teachers; increase programs; and would change the way athletics at the middle and high schools are funded. Superintendent Jeff Davis says it may appear that discussions are done, but he’s not convinced.
Jeff Davis – “There’s more work to do. The board; I don’t think; by looking at their body language and hearing their concerns expressed. I don’t think that they’re necessarily going to whole-heartedly embrace what was recommended. I think that they might make some adjustments up the road and so we’ll be hearing what that is.”
What the combined budget committee agreed to Wednesday night was to provide funding that would allow reinstatement of sports in the middle school as well as return funding for baseball, softball and wrestling in the high school. In an action later that evening, the school board tentatively agreed, but also put a cap of 80-percent funding on all high school sports that would be supported, making it imperative that the community, parents and students fund the remainder.
Projected Shortfall Could Hinder Budget Talks
School budget committee members were able to agree on a figure this week that provides for some additional programs and athletics, but things are going to change in the next two years. Four years ago voters approved a special tax levy that is providing about a million dollars each year. That goes away at the end of the 2013 fiscal year.
Compounding that will be unfunded retirement obligations faced by the district. By the end of the 2014 fiscal year it’s estimated that Siuslaw could be facing as much as a two-million dollar shortfall. Superintendent Jeff Davis says officials are currently weighing whether or not to save a portion of that special levy for future use. But he doesn’t think that was the original intention.
Jeff Davis – “My sense was that that money was to be used prudently to sustain as much as we could. We’ve lost stuff even since then.”
That’s why a special school board meeting, possibly later this month, will allow policy makers to hash out their thoughts on matter.
Jeff Davis – “My best metaphor is that it’s a high wire act for us to kind of do it right. I don’t want people to think we’re fiscally imprudent. I, cause we’re not. How can you be? We don’t have that much.”
Minor enrollment increases at Siuslaw this year have been the major reason why the financial crunch is not worse than it is.
Five Year Sentenced Handed Down for Child Porn
A 69-year old Reedsport man was sentenced this week to five years in prison for transporting and possessing child pornography. Prosecutors said Gary Newell shared and traded images and videos of child porn in online chat rooms. U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall said Newell’s conduct “constituted repeated exploitation of the children in the images”
One troubling aspect of the man’s conduct, says FBI agents who investigated the case, included Newell’s admission that he had written and shared erotic stories involving incest. He was prosecuted as part of “Project Safe Childhood”, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation.
Nothing Short of Wild
There was a new feature at the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce Visitor’s Center yesterday morning… if only briefly. A life-like replica of a Stellar Sea Lion… like the ones that reside at Sea Lion Caves… was unveiled next to the center. The sculpture has been provided by Sea Lion Caves as part of their 80th anniversary.
The caves are also being featured as the Grand Marshall for next week’s 105th Rhododendron Festival. The reason the sculpture won’t be displayed permanently until after that is because it will be featured on the Queen’s float during the Grand Floral Parade on Sunday, May 20th.
