The mood was glum at the Marfa School Board meeting on Monday night, as volunteer trustees wrestled with the fact that state budget funds were even less than expected.
Across several weeks, cuts were made across the board - to athletics, to band, to academics - as several hundred thousand dollars were removed from budget expenses. Still, board members are facing a school budget shortfall of roughly $400,000, so further cuts or increased revenues are needed. School board members reminded attendees that Marfans voted down a revenue increase in a 2010 referendum.
On Monday, further items were cut or discussed for removal. For example, the UIL academics program was removed, at a cost of $10,000. The school lunch budget was slashed. On the table for further cuts: busing, meals for staff & faculty, the school board annual conference. Also discussed were monies spent on educating children in the Redford area, who have long been the responsibility of the Marfa Independent School District rather than the Presidio ISD.
Also at the Marfa School Board meeting on Monday night, trustees set the new combine 2011 tax rate at 1.37 and discussed a request to the Big Bend Regional Hospital for a school nurse.