Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Lane Addresses School Cuts

The Pittsburgh Public School Board is mulling the latests round of budget cuts presented this week by Superintendent Linda Lane.

The list includes closing night school and next year's summer school program and eliminating middle school softball and baseball. The plan would save the school district $10 to $13 million dollars. The cuts would be in addition to the 2012 budget cuts of $32 million dollars, which included school closings and the elimination more than 100 teaching positions.

In an interview with Essential Pittsburgh Tuesday, Lane said it is a balancing act – determining how to cut costs while also implanting new initiatives that will help Pittsburgh Public School students remain "promise-ready."

"We try to approach it in a thoughtful way and see what alternatives are available to us and select those that we believe are less likely to result in our children not being able to reach their goals. But still…there's a fiscal reality there we can't just ignore," she said.

She said these were not easy cuts to make but when she spoke to the board in December, they knew they were going to have to get closer to a balanced budget.