The bad weather outside matched the sometimes bad mood inside at the Girard School Board meeting Monday.

With a vote of seven to two, the board approved a $36 million budget for the next school year.

That’s a cut of more than $3 million from last year’s budget. 

Board president Richard Brown said there is a “slight deficit” in the new budget. He said the big problem is that the state is asking them to do more.

“The state sends out mandates of programs and initiatives that they require the school district to comply with. All of these cost money to do, but they don’t give us any money to do them,” Brown said. 

Several parents and residents have a problem with how the district is thinking about saving money.

They might not fill both an art teacher and a music teacher position.

That would leave two art teachers and two music teachers for three schools.

“I’m getting emotional because all of our students need this,” parent Jamie Matson said at the meeting. “I have observed as a parent and an educator that sometimes, the students [who] don’t fit in other areas seem to find a home with these awesome teachers,” she said. 

One of the district’s former music teachers is also worried. 

“You need to keep what we’ve had. We’ve worked hard to have what we have here. I’m afraid [that] two music teachers, as much as they’re going to work hard and try, they just will not be able to do it. It’s just not possible,” Ron Fagley said. 

School board member Sean Dunn said he appreciates people talking about their concerns, but he wishes they did it earlier in the decision-making process.

“Oftentimes we have spent a lot of time talking about them and we may not have come up with the decision,” he said. “But the rumor mill starts, and everybody thinks that they know something. We would love the input of the community.” 

Brown won’t say when they’ll decide on the future of the art and music programs.

He said this to people who are worried: “It’s not something that we want to do.”