To the Editor:

Re: “Ithaca Public Schools Face $5 to $7M in Cuts,” News, March 24

In pondering proposed ICSD budget and staff “cuts,” keep in mind that the budget and staff have increased disproportionately to enrollment and incomes over past dozen years. It is time to move back towards a more rational and sustainable level of spending and service.

For example, the current average Per Pupil Expenditure (PPE) is over $18,000. It was about $9,600 in 1996-97. In 1993 enrollment was about 6,200. Today it is about 5,100. Yet staff (administrators, teachers and aides) has increased in numbers. So a reduction in staff is called for and not some kind of sacrifice.

The rate of spending and taxation is neither affordable nor sustainable.

Last week, the Ithaca Board of Education discussed a plan to phase out the middle school component of the Lehman Alternative Community School. This plan will remove a vibrant and integral part of a progressive school, and the Board of Education should keep this valuable component of the Ithaca public school system.