UPTOWN — Courtenay Language Arts Center Principal Macquline King said the school should be able to weather budget cuts if they occurred during the second half of this school year.
In a statement on the school's website, King reminded parents that CPS is facing a $480 million budget gap this year and a $1.1 billion structural deficit next year.
"This means that simply cutting budgets for the second half of this year does not solve the problem. Instead, CPS is pursuing sustainable reforms in four areas to avoid classroom cuts," King said. (To read more about the four areas CPS is pursuing, click here.)
After meeting with CPS officials about the district's finances, King was confident the school at 4420 N. Beacon St. could handle minor cuts if necessary.
"We’re just trying to make sure if there are any potential cuts to the school how do we address those cuts. So I’ve gone through the budget and we should be able to sustain a certain level. There’s not a percentage, but we have identified dollars that we can allocate in the event there is a budget cut," King told LSC members Monday afternoon.
"There [are] no numbers so I can say, 'Yes we can meet the budget cut,' but I feel comfortable that we’re doing a good job in identifying ways that we can sustain a certain level of cuts without having to move any of our students around. And that’s our biggest concern trying to first alleviate losing any of our teachers or having to shuffle our students around," she said. "At this point we would be able to sustain some cuts without having to touch our classrooms."
Last week, CPS deemed Courtenay among 313 other schools that were "underutilized." The report, which is based on a controversial formula, said Courtenay has 531 students, about half of its ideal capacity of 1,050.
King refused to comment on the report again Monday.
King did offer a little insight on the school's Child Parent Center building, which has been dealing with flooding issues since October. She said the topic has come up quite often, but the school has still been left in the dark when the repairs will be completed.
"We do know there’s a meeting forthcoming. As soon as that date has been made available to us I will share that with you and the school community," King said.
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