My thoughts on the FY2027 budget work session held 1/29/2026

I took the time to watch the FY2027 Budget Session that took place on Thursday, January 29th.  I thought there were some good discussions and points brought up by each board member.  I also understand the perspective of Dr. McCabe, Mr. O’Neal, and Mr. Shockney when it comes to budget concerns. 

The budget discussion centered around whether we should cut Outdoor School to save $1.4M and to reduce risk exposure. Mr. Whisler brought up whether we instead could cut laptops for grades 3-6 to save $1M this year. He also suggested to reduce the budget by another $400,000 (trim inflationary estimate) because we seem to run a surplus of $3-$5M every year due to unplanned changes occurring throughout the school year (which seems reasonable - you cannot plan for everything).  Together those cost savings would equal the $1.4M needed to “save” Outdoor School. 

Mr. Shockney suggested that cutting laptops would not save a full $1M because those costs would likely be offset by staff training and books/materials that would need to be purchased without the daily use of laptops.  I am confused by this because when potential cuts were presented, the savings for this line item was listed as “Reduce 1:1 student devices (per every 3 grades) - $1.0M”.  I assumed they presented the actual net savings and would like to know what the true savings will be if we remove 1:1 devices for grades 3-5 (3 grades). 

I would love to delve deeper into whether laptops are beneficial for students, critical thinking, and research, and those issues were touched on in this meeting.  This is not the outlet where I will air my concerns about this matter, but ultimately, it needs deep discussion and, in the meantime, we need to go back to basics and work with pencil and paper, especially for our younger students. 

I have many, many other questions about the budget and blueprint implementation and I will work over the next year to learn more and have my questions answered.  But for now, and our immediate needs today, I would vote to request an additional $5M from the county with the understanding that Outdoor School remains open and we remove 1:1 devices for grades 3-5.  Immediately I would also suggest we work to discuss laptops in grades 6-8 and whether they truly enhance student learning and performance.