The Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education is getting closer to closing its budget gap after approving new reductions over the past several weeks. However, there are likely more reductions to come in the next few days.
CPS is set to lose a sizable chunk of its annual budget due to the end of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding, also known as ESSER, which is set to expire later this year.
The district's administration and board members have been working to find areas in the budget where reductions can be made without leaving too much of a negative impact.
RELATED: CPS' proposal to merge schools gets pushback from communities
In February, a proposal by the administration to merge multiple schools within the district was met with intense backlash from staff, families, and community members. The response sent CPS leaders back to the drawing board to find other options.
Since starting the budgeting process, the board has agreed to cut more than $58 million in spending, mainly by closing unfilled positions, cutting some summer programs, and reducing money spent on technology for students.
One cut included the elimination of personal laptops and tablets for students in preschool through the 6th grade. Instead, younger students will use shared devices while middle school and high school students will still be given personal devices. The reduction was not supported by the entire board, but secured enough votes for approval.
With those cuts, the district's current estimated budget gap sits at just above $22 million.
Other possible cuts to come
On Wednesday, Superintendent Iranetta Wright shared additional details about more potential cuts the board could approve soon to cut the forecasted deficit even more.
RELATED: CPS board approves new strategic plan
The proposals include increasing the walk radius for students using transportation from 1 mile to 1.5 miles, along with a consolidation of school bus routes. Wright also presented a proposed restructuring of resource coordinators within the district, which would reduce the total number of positions by having each coordinator cover multiple schools, rather than have one in each school building.
A restructuring of the district's nurses is also on the table. Wright proposes utilizing more school health assistants and licensed practical nurses over registered nurses to cut down on costs.
These proposed cuts would trim the budget gap by an additional $10 million, leaving just $12 million left to cut before CPS submits its final budget.
On top of the $10 million in proposed reductions, Wright also mentioned another option that would require the district's 7th and 8th students to ride Metro buses to school rather than yellow buses. That proposal would save the district just over $9 million in transportation expenses.
For now, the option to have more students ride Metro, along with the proposed merger of multiple schools, remains without board support.
The board will likely vote on some of the proposals at its next meeting Monday, March 18.
