Superintendent Karen Mantia will announce the cuts at a 7:30 p.m. school board meeting at E.H. Greene Intermediate School, 5200 Aldine Drive, Blue Ash.

Sycamore voters rejected an operating levy in August, and the school board will be back on the Nov. 2 ballot with a smaller request - a 5.5-mill, limited five-year levy. To reduce the levy amount, the district has to cut $2.2 million from the current $70 million budget, even if the November levy passes. If the levy fails, the district is looking at another $4.1 million in cuts on top of the $2.2 million for a total of $6.3 million.

The entire budget is being examined - from central office administrators to teachers, curriculum to athletics. But Mantia has made it clear the proposed cuts will be carefully crafted, so the district can maintain its quality of education.

"This is not a fire sale," she said.

The cuts will be presented in two forms - the $2.2 million in cuts, and the additional reductions if the levy loses, Treasurer Beth Weber said. The majority of cuts to be discussed tonight would go into effect with the 2005-06 budget.

In both proposals, the board will consider student instructional and extracurricular participation fees, Weber said.

That wouldn't bother Karin Noland, who urged school board members last month to consider implementing material and activity fees. The Symmes Township woman said many parents she talked with were surprised that they didn't have to pay fees for sports and other activities.

"I think you would find parents not as resistant as you'd think," Noland told the board. "It would give parents a chance to demonstrate to the community our willingness to bear more of the burden of the cost of educating our children."

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