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Around a table in a conference room at the Nampa School District headquarters, parents, district leaders and educators (both current and former) searched, Wednesday, for a way to ensure Nampa’s children could finish out the school year.

The budget committee worried its district could run out of money before the school year ended, preventing it from paying employees and – maybe – even forcing it to close down early.

So, that committee reviewed recommendations from its subcommittees. Next week, it will take some, all or none of those recommendations to the district's board of trustees.

Wednesday, the district discussed short-term solutions like selling four district properties and ensuring schools accurately reported their attendance – thus receiving more federal dollars.

The budget committee listened to proposals for new fees students would have to pay if they wished to play sports or attend games. Committee members suggested seeking a judge’s approval to take out bank loans, pitched a couple of different levies for voters to approve or deny in March and discussed adding four furlough days.

Long-term solutions included starting a foundation, launching a campaign to increase daily attendance, boosting advertising revenue and seeking grants for transportation costs.

Because approximately 80 percent of district spending goes toward its employees, long-term solutions not related to layoffs seemed few. So, the group debated auditing employees’ health insurance and raising employee paid-premiums, switching from a block-schedule to a period-schedule and – if given no other options – laying off staff members.

None of those aforementioned recommendations – long- or short-term – came with an estimated savings or revenue.