Staff only thing left to cut at many rural school systems in area

Sometimes, a bake sale just isn’t enough.

Organizations can only raise so much money selling brownies and cupcakes. And area school corporations need lots — millions of dollars — if they hope to avoid funding cuts that must be made in order to keep their budgets balanced in light of state-mandated reductions.

They won’t be able to raise that much cash. In the rural world, school districts often don’t have the kind of money that larger ones do. Sure, they get thousands in per-pupil funding from the state like their bigger counterparts, but with fewer kids and a smaller pot of money, there’s not a lot left for frills.

When it comes to reducing expenses at rural schools, the reality is that there isn’t much left to cut except for staff, a school’s most expensive and important commodity. Enrichment classes and special programming were axed long ago from tight budgets in shrinking rural school districts.

So while the more urban Monroe County Community School Corp. educators, school board members, parents and students lament the imminent loss of extra programs that provide experiences such as being a student in the late 1800s learning to cipher in a one-room schoolhouse or exploring playing the violin, their rural counterparts wonder what the fuss is about. And where the equity lies.