Potential costs and savings of the various school use plans being looked at were shared at the recent B.U.S.S.- Better Utilization of School Space - budget committee meeting held Tuesday night at Conneaut Valley High School.

Those figures will be shared at the combined B.U.S.S committee meeting tonight at Linesville High School.

This publication recently reviewed the architect's study of how full buildings are now - none of the 6 buildings at capacity. In fact buildings now used reflect only a 56.6 % use of capacity.

The budget committee looked over a printout of this year's budget and then those for 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15. The 2014-15 budget is seen as a critical time period for all who project ahead as state retirement issues and funding meet a critical point then.

As noted in the kick off to the study of how best to use school buildings, how best to offer curriculum, how best to meet declining enrollment and cutbacks in state educational funding and attempting to meet upcoming budget demands, to keep all six school buildings and three attendance areas as they are now, the school district faces a $10 - 12-million budget shortfall which would mean cuts in offering kindergarten, athletics, music, art. library, physical education, family and consumer science, technology education, guidance counselors, and student transportation.

This school year alone 26 classes that some high school students wanted to take were not offered because of low numbers of sign ups including Chemistry 2, Applied Physics, Microbiology, and Anatomy and Physiology.

In fact a student from Conneaut Valley High School is taking most of her classes at Linesville High School this year because she could not take microbiology at Valley. The class is important to her future plans. She is a senior.

Another Valley student, in a co-op program, is taking classes at Linesville as well as the Valley's afternoon schedule did not fit his classroom needs as well.

The B.U.S.S. curriculum committee, in its work, has tried to come up with plans that allows most of the current curriculum in place to remain in place. They have rated plans as 1, 2, and 3, with the No. 1 plan having a single high school and single middle school in the district.

The budget committee information, starting with this year's 2011-12 fund balance projection of $5,678,862, then shows decreases in the fund balance - the difference between the projected revenue and expenses and how much of a fund balance would remain come the 2014-15 school year.

Keep in mind the figures are only ball park and do not include costs of outfitting new single athletic teams with different colors and names, a single band, and the figures also need an adjustment in terms of some salary figures used.

Option 1A which is a single high school plan for grades 9 - 12, two middle schools for grades 7 - 8, and the three elementary schools remaining the same, would show a fund balance of $360,170.21 by the 2014-15 school year. No schools are closed in this plan.

Option 1B of a grades 10 - 12 high school, one 7 - 9 middle school and three elementary schools shows a fund balance of $3,002,151.94. One high school would close in this plan.

Option 2A, the North/South option with grades 7 - 12 at Conneaut Valley and Linesville, keeping the three elementary schools as is, and closing Conneaut Lake High School, shows a deficit of $842,237 in 2014-15, meaning a number of program cuts would have to take place as in the option of keeping all schools the same as now in place.

Option 2B, the East/West proposal, which would have grades 7 - 12 high schools at Linesville and Conneaut Lake, keep the three elementary schools and close Conneaut Valley High School, would show a deficit of $842,237.

Option 6A, with the one senior high school at Linesville for grades 9 - 12, using Schafer Elementary School for the overflow for a year or two of 9th graders, having one 6 - 8 middle school and two K - 5 elementary schools- one at Valley and one at Lake, and closing one high school would show a fund balance of $3,599,244.

Option 6B which would have a single 9 - 12 high school at Linesville and using Schafer as an overflow for the 9th graders for a year or two, having Valley and Lake high schools serve as grade 5 - 8 buildings and having two elementary schools at Valley and Lake for K- 4 grades- this plan, like the plan above, closes Schafer Elementary as an elementary building, shows a fund balance of $998,474 by the 2014-15 year.

Studies will continue on how to plan the future of the school district, what to keep, what to cut. Plans are to hold public hearings on the plans to explain the options.