St. Ignace Area Schools anticipate a revenue decrease of either $580,000 or $803,000 next year, depending on whether a three-year or five-year student enrollment blend is used, said Superintendent Mike Springsteen during his report to the school board Monday, May 11.

These decreases would be either 9% or 12% of the district's current budget and Mr. Springsteen said the decrease will not be known until the state adopts its budget, which it must do by October 1. School districts, however, must adopt their budgets by July 1.

"I think we're going to be facing a really big budget deficit," he said. "We're going to have to be facing the fact that we need to reduce our budget by one of those two figures."

He recommended the board assume that revenue will drop $580,000.

Over the past two years, Mr. Springsteen said, St. Ignace Area Schools has lost about 85 students. State funding is based on student enrollment, so the decrease has resulted in less revenue. He said the district is likely to lose 38 more students by next fall.

The state now pays $7,316 per student, which would equate to $278,000 less next year. Using student enrollment data over a longer period of time would result in a different number, he said, and the $580,000 figure is a combination of all anticipated funding and expense changes.

"Enrollment is a real big culprit," Mr. Springsteen said.

He also attributed a budget deficit to increasing expenses owing to personnel contract obligations, higher classroom material prices, and hikes in fuel, electric, and health insurance premiums.

Personnel costs make up 80% of the district's budget, he said, although he acknowledged that buildings and supplies are also necessary to run a school.

"We're going to be looking to conserve and protect the core of our program, and that is our classrooms," he said.

The Eastern Upper Peninsula is down by 149 students in the last year alone, 1.87 % of its student population.

With districts across the region facing similar budget cuts, one solution being investigated by school leaders is to share similar services, like teaching, bus maintenance, and technology.

Possible district-wide solutions are being explored by schools in Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District (EUPISD). One such brainstorming session took place April 9 in Rudyard but a second meeting, scheduled for Thursday, May 14 was cancelled owing to scheduling conflicts, said EUPISD Superintendent Pete Everson, who attended Monday's school board meeting in St. Ignace.

"We probably have some work we could be doing collectively as a region to at least investigate and come up with some suggestions or ideas," Mr. Everson said. "I think at some point we're going to need to address this."

Said trustee David Latva, "I think the first meeting was very educational. There were a lot of good ideas that came out of it."

"The meeting was very helpful across the board," Board President Jane Weiss added.

While St. Ignace faces tough decisions about what to cut from their budget, Mr. Springsteen said things could be worse, and it is important for the board to do what needs to be done.

"We have to get our program in place so that we can continue to offer a program to the kids in our community," he said. "It looks tough to deal with, but we'll deal with it."

The St. Ignace school board will discuss a revised budget at its June 8 meeting.

Tobacco Completely Banned

on School Grounds

In other school board business, members passed a proposal to make all St. Ignace school grounds tobacco-free areas 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The proposal was recommended by the board's policy committee and is in concert with state guidelines.