Brandywine Community Schools held two public forums Tuesday to inform the public on what the district plans to do to handle the looming cuts in state funding.

“Mainly it’s going to be the status of what we know about the funding from the state, letting people know how we have less to work with,” Supt. John Jarpe said.

Turnout for the Tuesday morning meeting was not good. Another was scheduled for 7 p.m. Asked if he would present another set of forums should that turnout also be low, Jarpe said he wasn’t sure and that he may post the presentation online.

In that presentation, Jarpe said he outlines the district’s need to use a portion of its fund equity to make up for the shortfall they expect when the state revenues come in later this year.

No final amount has been declared, but districts statewide expect to be shorted up to $700 per student, when taking into account cuts in per pupil funding as well as increased costs in retirement and insurance costs.

“It depends on what the state is going to give,” Jarpe said. “That is a huge variable.”

He said he expects to know more later this month after a revenue estimating conference.

It’s been heard, Jarpe said, “that more tax money is coming into Michigan, so this slow rebound from the recession may be taking place.”

But Jarpe said the governor had possibly planned to put those funds into the state’s rainy day fund.

The district makes an effort not to use more than 20 percent of its fund equity, and Jarpe said he believes it will be possible to avoid going below that mark this year.

Eight teachers have received layoff notices and though Jarpe has said he hopes to call each of them back, the district is still in negotiations with teachers.

“We’re in negotiation with teachers now,” Jarpe said. “So I can’t comment on that because we haven’t made any economic progress on that yet. We’ve really just begun.”

At Brandywine Middle/Senior High School, school officials are looking into juggling a few schedules in order to utilize staff with dual certifications in teaching both high school and middle school students.

Both students “could follow a similar schedule,” Jarpe said. “And I think we could maximize the use of staff that way. It really allows us to use the staff a little more efficiently.”

Though he couldn’t go into great detail about just what schedule changes would look like, Jarpe did clarify that middle school and high school students, who attend school in the same building at opposite wings, would remain separated when it comes to the classroom.

The purchase of a new school bus will also be held off due to budget restraints.

“We had planned to buy at least one new school bus, maybe two,” Jarpe said. “I think our bus fleet is in pretty good shape, so we can put that off for a year.”

The superintendent said he’s still hoping to recall those teachers who received notices this year, saying when the schedule changes are finalized and final counts for next year’s kindergarten registration are received, those factors could make a difference.