The Winona Area School Board Thursday discussed budget reduction guiding principals.

The board is facing making $500,000 in budget cuts from the 2013-2014 budget and the district's Finance Committee voted to recommend a list of guiding principles to help decide where to make the cuts.

Board member Ben Baratto made it clear he's for fairness in deciding any budget cuts and he will fight to keep the focus squarely on the students in the classroom.

1st District Board member Steve Schild says he thinks the guidelines are a great example of collaboration between staff, the Finance Committee and teachers.

The guiding principals include retaining and attracting high quality staff...relying on data, research and factual information for making decisions...making efficient use of facilities and operations, and conducting budget cuts in a transparent and deliberate manner.
  
The one-half million dollars is less than 2-percent of the total district budget.