School District 9-R has run a budget deficit for four years, with the shortfall being made up out of reserves. Obviously that cannot continue forever. Facing that, the district is holding two meetings this week to get a sense of how the community is willing to contribute to solving this problem. They deserve to be well attended.

The first is 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Escalante Middle School, 141 Baker Lane, near Walmart, Jan. 19. The second will be from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday at Miller Middle School, 2608 Junction St.

The District 9-R school board has set 15 percent of its annual budget as its reserve requirement, which is only prudent. The district needs to have money in the bank to meet emergencies and events outside its control. When Superintendent Dan Snowberger came on board four years ago the reserve was at around 18 percent. That surplus has allowed him to keep the lights on without having to go the voters or make excessively drastic cuts.

But the district’s reserves are now at 13.4 percent and it would be dangerous to dip into them further. Something must be done.

The question is not if the community wants to participate in 9-R’s budget woes. The only question is how. Simple math says that either revenue has to increase, spending must be cut further or some combination of the two. And any one of those answers will affect everyone in the district, regardless of whether they have children in school.

If what emerges from these meetings (and the two more rounds planned for February and May) is support for going to the voters in November, clearly everyone in the district will be touched – particularly if the result is a tax increase.

Possible cuts, however, would have just as broad an impact. The district has identified a series of places to cut, but all of them are ugly. It could, for example, cut founding for kindergarten, cut or do away with the after-school Kids Camp, eliminate transportation or just quit spending on capital investments.

But all of those have costs just as real as higher taxes. Kindergarten is the beginning of a solid education. Reducing or ending capital investment quickly translates to a need for even greater spending – or trying to run the organization with junk instead of proper equipment.

Cutting Kids Camp or transportation does not make those costs go away, it shifts them onto the broader community. While critics can complain that child care is a parental responsibility, that component of public education benefits employers as well. More than a few businesses would find themselves having to make greater accommodations or difficult personnel decisions if parents had to pick kids up earlier or drive them to school in the morning. The affect on the business community would be real.

Much of this is a reflection of the state Legislature’s budgetary gimmickry and the state Supreme Court’s acquiescence in ignoring the voters’ clear intent in passing Amendment 23’s education spending requirements. Had our lawmakers followed Amendment 23, 9-R would have seen an additional $4.8 million this year alone.

But they did not and that leaves it to District 9-R. Its leaders need and deserve to hear what community members – not just parents – think should be done.