Seaman superintendent outlines $920,000–$1.6 million in multi‑year savings proposals to protect staff pay

Superintendent Brad Wilson on May 12 presented a multi‑year budget realignment plan for Seaman USD 345 intended to avoid salary freezes and preserve future pay increases by cutting non‑salary spending and redirecting some program dollars.

Wilson framed the plan as an alternative to across‑the‑board pay freezes and said the package was assembled to be “ethical, compassionate, gradual, and responsible.” He told the board he ‘‘carefully and meticulously considered these items’’ and asked the board to approve the concept while implementation details are finalized.

Wilson said the recommended steps include departmental budget reductions, operational efficiencies and program changes. He gave multiple examples and estimates: reducing some departmental budgets by a targeted 6–10 percent; reducing the number of middle‑school teams (he said that change already avoids hiring three core teachers and represents about $150,000 in general‑fund savings); eliminating a twice‑yearly mailed district “communicator” (roughly a $21,000 savings if fully implemented, though he said the district would print some copies for community pickup); switching elementary benchmarks to FastBridge (about $13,000 in savings); and stopping a set of…