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Oak Creek — The South Routt School Board is bracing for cuts, but thanks to federal money, board members said they also are hopeful that grant funding will be available in the coming year.

During a School Board meeting Thursday night, several discussion items centered on the district’s finances and how to handle the likely cuts in state funding.

“They’re going to be looking at everything,” District Busin­ess Manager Dina Murray said. The board members plan to come up with three to five options for how to deal with budget cuts and ask for input from the district staff and the public.

A preliminary estimate shows the district could lose $221,000 in the coming year, or a little more than 6 percent of its overall budget.

“We’re going to talk about everything, not just cuts but sources of revenue,” Superi­ntendent Scott Mader said.

One possible source of relief is grants from state and local sources, Murray said.

During Thursday’s meeting, the school board members signaled they are interested in participating in the U.S. Department of Education’s “Race to the Top Fund.”

That commitment, while not binding, will allow the district to apply for funds from the $4 billion pool, designed “to reward states that have raised student performance in the past and have the capacity to accelerate achievement gains with innovative reforms,” according to the fund’s Web site.

Mader said he would start to develop options for the board and other groups to consider for this year and the next.

“Another thing we might do is consider cuts on a two-year basis because what we hear from people on the state level is that it’s not going to be any better. In fact, it could be worse” next year, he said.

The funds owed by and to the Northwest Colorado Boa­rd of Cooperative Educa­ti­onal Services are yet another financial challenge for the school district.

Murray said that unlike larger districts, including Steamboat Springs, the South Routt School Board could not feasibly opt out of using BOCES services, which include funding and programs for special education and other state-mandated programs.

“I don’t believe our district is big enough to have that option,” Murray said.

The board appointed Paul Barry as the voting representative on the Education Fund Board’s Capital Improvements and Technology Commission and Jules Palyo to the Educational Ex­c­ellence Com­mission. The Fund Board held a recent meeting in South Routt, observing projects funded at the end of last school year and potential future projects.

During a work session before the regular meeting, 20 to 25 parents expressed concern about a difference in philosophies between Mader and South Routt Elementary School Principal Michael Young, Mader said.

Mader said the parents were concerned about the balance between student achievement and test scores, and extracurricular and enrichment activities. Mader said the parents were concerned that enrichment activities such as field trips may be not getting enough attention.

“I think the board assured them (by saying) just look at the budget, look at the money we spend on those kinds of things,” he said. “We are going for both. We want to treat kids well and respectfully and give them all those enrichment activities but also want student achievement.”

Board members spoke with the parents, but no action was taken or recommended.