KNAPPA – Knappa Schools’ Interim Superintendent Jim Carlile has unveiled his budget plan for next school year. And instead of a gloomy outlook for jobs and programs – as is the case in other parts of Oregon and Clatsop County – Carlile’s forecast is cautiously optimistic.

A number of programs Knappa students haven’t seen in years have been resurrected and restored in the budget draft – with very minimal additional cost to the district.

Carlile has proposed a handful of program expansions and adjustments – from adding free full-day kindergarten to advanced placement classes in the high school and even a modest marimba band for the elementary grades – that, if implemented, would cost the district little more than they’re already spending, he said at the budget committee’s first meeting on Monday night.

Rinda Johansen, the school board chairwoman, applauded his creative and thrifty approach.

“It is very impressive. They’re not afraid of trying something new,” Johansen said.

Carlile said he put the budget together aiming to improve learning for the district’s youngest learners, provide a modest pay raise for licensed and classified staff and plan and put programs and staffing arrangements in place that will be sustainable through the foreseeable future.

This year’s budget was crafted very conservatively, and along with enrollment numbers that have held steady, allowing the district to be in a healthy situation financially, Carlile said.

“The board made some hard cuts last year, and that has precluded us from doing it this year,” he said.

Carlile outlined his proposed program improvements and faculty adjustments at the meeting, and they included:

? adding a half-time teacher to oversee and support a new Response to Intervention program the district will implement in the fall. The program gives kindergarten through third graders 90 minutes of reading instruction per day;

? adding an additional full-time kindergarten teacher as a full-day kindergarten program begins, requiring two kindergarten classrooms. The additional teacher will be paid for by reducing the staffing in grades 6-8 by supporting the program in those grades with high school teaching staff;

? adding an additional hour to the school day for fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in the fall. This addition will not cost it anymore but will require careful planning to provide additional prep for the teachers in grades four and five, Carlile said. The addition of the hour of instructional time will have the effect of adding six full weeks of school for these students;

? begin a Marimba band program for upper elementary students to respond to the absence of music in grades four through 12. The high school will also begin a modest choral option for students, probably after school staffed by a volunteer. There will some start-up costs for the Marimba band program including sending the potential instructor to a week-long class this summer in Portland. Carlile said the district would seek Knappa Foundation funding support for this program as well as other private funding sources.

? begin a high school Advanced Placement U.S. History course. This class which carries the possibility of university level credit will be valuable in getting students experience with more sophisticated reading materials as prep for the ACT and SAT. The class will also assist in preparation for freshmen level course-work in a four-year university.

? a plan to replace four retiring teachers with educators having three or fewer years of experience thereby saving the district approximately $44,000 per year over the next three years for a total of $132,000.

? a $60,000 reduction in administrative costs in preparation for an even more significant reduction in the 2010-11 school year.

Carlile was originally hired by the board to be the district’s interim superintendent for one year after the previous superintendent, Rick Pass, resigned and the administration did a complete turnover. Carlile agreed to stay for a second year earlier this spring.