Monday evening, the Baxter school board hosted a townhall meeting to discuss the proposed budget cuts the district is facing due to a $200,000 shortfall resulting from declining enrollment numbers.

Superintendent Matt Patton has made recommendations to the board to compensate for the shortfall, and the board will vote on the cuts during an upcoming meeting. Over two years, the school district lost 50.9 students, with the the .9 student accounting for home-schooled students who only attend for music and physical education and do not count as full-time students.

Many concerned citizens opposed the recommendation to downsize the K-12 music department by one teacher and to reduce the elementary principal position to half-time.