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Aurora Schools Considers 40 Different Cost-Savings Options

AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - Aurora could be the next public school district in Colorado to make some tough cuts.

At a town hall meeting Monday night citizens and public officials discussed the district's $25 million budget gap projected for next year.

The district is considering charging students $1 a day to ride the bus, raising athletic fees, blocking all teacher raises and mandatory furloughs.

One cost cutting consideration is not filling teacher positions that come open through attrition. Parents like Christie Alford said they are particularly concerned about any actions that lead to larger class sizes.

"It has been fluctuaing between 31 and 33 students in the classroom," Alford said. "When I go and volunteer some days it can be unruly, disorganized and I just wonder if that's really good instruction that our children are receiving with class sizes that large."

Casey Wardynski, the district's chief financial officer, said cutting teaching positions is something they are trying hard to avoid.

"We're working pretty hard to stay away from the classrooms," he told CBS4. "Our objective is student achievement and to keep that achievement high and growing. We're trying to make our cuts elsewhere."

District officials are considering a total of 40 different options. They plans to post the list on the Aurora Public Schools' website (aurorak12.org).

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