Bow school administrators are working to make the cuts approved by voters at the School District Meeting.

They are expecting to bring a proposal to the School Board at a Thursday, April 3, meeting. During the March 14 meeting, voters approved the Budget Committee’s proposal of $24.8 million, about $152,000 less than the School Board’s proposed budget.

Superintendent of Schools Dean Cascadden said the cuts will need to come from areas that will not have a negative effect on the district.

“I understand that in these economic times, people are conscious of growing school budgets,” said Cascadden. ”We will do what makes sense to reach that cut. You want to make decisions on what will least impact kids, and least impact the academics for kids.”

Bow business administrator Duane Ford said school officials want to create a list that will equal more than the total cuts to give the board different items to choose from.

“What we’re going to need to do is meet with administration, and each building is going to bring their own ideas. We won’t just get things that add up to 152,000, but get some other things we can put out there that we are able to talk about,” he said.

Cascadden also said he plans to accumulate a list of more than the $152,000 before the board decides on the actual cuts.

“I like to bring the thinking forward, so we may have to present more than just the cuts to make sure they reflect the board’s priorities as well,” he said. “I told the staff that if you want to defend something, that’s fine, but we also need to make cuts.”

According to Cascadden, there is a variety of criteria contributing to the decision of what areas will take hits.

“The first thing you’re going to look at is anything new, and there are some special education and custodial positions that we’ll look at,” he said. “We also have to look at programs that are new. We have to say (to the staff), ‘come with your ideas and we’ll we see what kind of things we can come up with.’”

Ford said the administration looks at non-mandated programs as well as one-time-only areas such as equipment.

Cascadden said he does not plan to pull out of the International Baccalaureate program as a way to trim the budget.

“We are moving forward with the application with the intent that we want to implicate it. How do you ask people to do all this work and then say we’re not going to do it?,” said Cascadden. “The board will listen to the input from the community, and if we get accepted we’ll listen to that and see. I’m committed to seeing it through, but that could be an area the board looks to cut.”

The Thursday, April 3, School Board meeting will take place beginning at 7 p.m., at the music room at Bow Memorial School.