The budget deficit was recently reduced from $7.7 million to $6.8 million- significantly less, but still a gap for the district to fill.

As a result, principals were asked to make cuts to their operating budgets wherever possible, Shirley Broz, Chief Financial Officer, said.

And this isn’t the first time operating budgets have been cut. Over the past five years, operating budgets across the district have been cut by $22 million, Broz said.

As with all budget cuts, Broz said the goal of these cuts was to keep budget issues from affecting quality of education.

“We are trying to keep the budget cuts as far away from the classroom as is possible,” Broz said.

Principal Dr. Greg Mathison and Associate Principal Paul Burns are in charge of designing the operating budget at MHS. Dr. Mathison said he was specifically asked to find cuts to reduce the overall operating budget by ten percent.

“It’s not a choice,” Mathison said. “I have to make that number.”

Dr. Mathison said the district budget philosophy is moving towards complete accountability, and only allocating money where there is an absolute need for it.

“We’re moving to what they call zero-base budgeting,” Dr. Mathison said. “Every dollar we spend, we’re accountable for.”

The school’s operating budget consists of department funding, technology, library funding, production costs and postage, among other things, Dr. Mathison said. Operating budget does not, however, include expenses like water and electricity, which is decided at the district level.

Dr. Mathison said these cuts should help to combat budget problems in the near future, but that they will not be sustainable.

“For right now, we’re going to do our best to tighten our boot,” Dr. Mathison said. “But this won’t be sustainable.”

Dr. Mathison said that cutting the operating budget would reduce the potential need to make cuts to the staffing budget, which could cause class sizes to increase and even some courses to disappear.

“We’re trying to reduce school operating budgets to ensure the best instructional quality for students,” Dr. Mathison said. “Keeping the student-teacher ratio where it is now.”

Dr. Mathison said budget cuts are never geared specifically around keeping people employed.

“This is not about saving jobs,” Dr. Mathison said. “It’s about making sure we maintain the high standards we have now.”

Though Dr. Mathison said it can be difficult to find places to make cuts in the operating budget, he is optimistic about the effects these cuts will have on the overall budget.

“I’m hopeful this is going to eliminate any need to cut teachers,” Dr. Mathison said.

Dr. Mathison and Associate Principal Paul Burns are responsible for coming up with the operating budget, and are set to submit that budget to the school board for approval in mid-january.

Mathison said “going green” by making progress reports and newsletters electronic has helped to reduce postage cost.

“The first day, we were told we had to cut the budget by six percent,” Mathison said. “That was an anomaly. Usually we have about eight months to decide the budget for the following year.”

Tara Harrow, fine arts department chair, said operating budget money typically pays for art supplies for art classes. Harrow said she does not expect budget cuts to be earth-shattering.

“They’ve always been very supportive of us,” Harrow said.

Though Harrow said the budget is currently up in the air, she is confident that funding cuts will be manageable.

“We’re just going to have to work with what we have,” Harrow said.