Ten people spoke against raising property taxes one week and only a dozen residents showed up the following week to hear the school district's presentation on the use of technology in the district in a forum where Crawford County District Attorney Francis Schultz spoke on the issue of sexting.

At the first meeting on March 15, nearly 100 people were in attendance as the school district shared information on the budget as work is begun on the budget set to begin July 1.

At the meeting, held at Linesville High School, the 100 people out of some 18,617 residents in the district according to the 2010 census,

listened as Conneaut School District business manager Kara Onorato reviewed budget procedures and shared financial figures to help everyone understand the budget process.

She explained various deadlines that must be met by law as the school district prepares a budget.

A preliminary budget, for example, must be available for public inspection by late January even thought state support is not known at that point.

The school board must approve a preliminary budget by mid-February and still not know what support may be coming from the state.

The school district must approve yet another preliminary budget by May 30, and a final budget by June 30 for the year to begin July 1.

It was explained that the budgets that must be ready in January and February are little more than estimates pulled together just after schools start in the fall with staff trying to guess what may be needed in the following school year.

Bids for various supplies are not yet in at this point with budget refinements to be made in April and May and into June when the final document is approved.

It was explained that enrollment continues to decline in the district with a total of 891 students in the Conneaut Lake area based on 90 day enrollment figures - 472 at the elementary school and 419 at the high school;

at Conneaut Valley there are 703 students - 347 at the elementary school and 356 at the high school;

and at Linesville there are 847 total students - 420 at the elementary school and 427 at the high school for a total of 2,441 in the district.

There was close to 2,900 students in the 2002-03 school year. Some years ago there was close to 900 students in Conneaut Lake High School.

It was explained that the newly proposed state budget shows cuts for educational support with no changes in state mandates and requirements.

The proposed state budget shows a $51,299 cut in special education funding, something that's been level funded for the past couple of years. The state is also taking away $100,000 in charter school reimbursement and doing away with the accountability block grant in the amount of $490,000. The grant helped to cover costs for full day kindergarten.

The basic educational subsidy from the state is currently being pegged at $10,335,552, less than a third of the school district's overall budget. The school district received $10,554,145 in basic educational subsidy in the 2008-09 school year

Special education funding in 2008-09 was $1,681,427; that is projected at $1,607,064 for the year to begin July 1.

The speakers from the public at the March 15 meeting made the following points - Carol Majors from Conneaut Lake area - against high tax increase requested, don't believe most in school district can afford it, cut expenses in all departments, increase class size...;

Cathy Kornman, Linesville area - cut 10 to 15% of budget from administration down, taxpayers can't stand increase whether 1 mill or 6;

Richard Hoegerl, Linesville area - not going to scream at, district is a business, should operate as a business, tough decisions need to be made;

James Coxson, Conneaut Lake - notes other people talked about cutting administrative costs, raised questions about contracted employees, knows of other people who have taken 20 % cut in pay;

Ron Uzarski, Linesville, noted school district among top four employers, asking you to [cut];

Kevin McGrath, Linesville - said he understands your position as he serves on a municipal body as well [note: he is a Linesville Borough councilman], have to make cuts, can't keep raising taxes, keep millage where it is at;

Linesville man - 2 kids in Linesville Elementary School, wants what is best for kids, raising taxes not way to go, wants kids to get great education without raising taxes;

Joe Yeager, Conneaut Lake - noted he is the retired business manager of the school district, questioned about an early bird contract settlement 8 months early, said he hasn't heard of personnel cuts or other hearings;

Ron Korey, Linesville - based on Gov. Corbett's statement: school employees should agree to wage freezes, should be easier for public to vote on tax increases, hate to eliminate anything but have no other choices, said you people have hard job ahead of you, would not want your jobs;

Kathy Watson, Conneaut Valley - works for school district, in cafeteria, said people have no idea what it takes to run school district, takes a lot, we are here talking of kids who are caught in middle, don't forget it's the children;

Linda Faust, Linesville, notes raising prices, suggested everyone has to start paying for insurance, working people and retired people pay for insurance, if taxes keep going up, people will be out of their homes, jobs are not paying what they used to;

and Molly Nowak, Conneaut Lake - commended board for doing job, commended teachers who work with the kids, said do not cut music program, art, commented on charter schools wondering if school district had more to offer maybe not so many in charter schools, notes not everybody gets pay raises.

All the speakers received applause from those in the audience.

No one commented on the 20 teaching positions eliminated over the past 5 years;

All school employees in the school district pay towards their health insurance as they also pay towards retirement. Prior to current contract none of the employees paid towards insurance costs.

The school directors in the past several months have decided to have student athletes pay $10 towards getting their sports physicals. They have also increased admission prices $1.00 a person for those attending sporting events to begin this fall. Senior citizens, instead of a free pass to games, will now be required to pay $5.00 per sports season to attend games.

The school district did extend the teacher's contract, set to expire June 30, 2012, for three years recently. The contract calls for teachers to pay more towards their health insurances, put a limit on how many credits [6] would be paid for by the school district - was unlimited before - and also eliminated the Master's plus 30 credits pay category.

Talk in the school district is that there will be furloughs of staff as work is done on the budget. That talk will be done in executive session as it involves personnel.

Many areas of the school district will be looked at ranging from full day kindergarten, elementary guidance, transportation, and libraries to delaying a new language arts program, music, art, and electives.

It should be noted, based on comments seen elsewhere, there are no assistant athletic directors in the school district, there were no cost over runs in the renovation and building projects as bids came in under projections and there is money left over in the construction fund.

A number of people said at the time of the renovation program they were willing to pay higher taxes to keep the three attendance areas and not have a single high school. At least one board member has been told that again in recent days.

As noted, despite telephone calls going out to families in the school district, only a dozen showed up March 22 to hear reviews of what technology is being used by students in the school district from Interactive White Boards to My Big Campus.

As noted the Crawford County District Attorney spoke of use of social media, ie, cell phones and what laws apply.