6-21-13 ripon school board approves budget cuts

The Ripon Board of Education approved budget cuts during their meeting this week.  Superintendent Richard Zimman says more than $483,000 was cut from the current year’s programming for the 2013-14 school year.  Included in the program reductions are the equivalent of two positions, health insurance plan design, staff training, compensation, and the cost of retirement benefits.  Zimman says increased funding being discussed by the state legislature does not keep up with inflation, so cuts in staff and programming are required to meet budget mandates.  Also, the Board approved a request from the Crossroads Academy Charter School’s Governance Council to allow its 5-year contract to exist as a charter school to expire at the end of the 2012-13 school year.  The off-site school, located in the lower level of the First Congregational Church, houses a project-based learning curriculum for fifteen at-risk high school students.  Zimman says Crossroads did not meet new criteria for charter schools so it will continue as a program of Ripon High School with oversight by the RHS principal and the Board of Education.