Last week started out great for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. A local philanthropic group unveiled a bold and unprecedented plan to pump $55 million into CMS schools on Charlotte's westside to boost graduation rates and student performance.

The plan is a sweeping effort that will focus on things that work such as pre-kindergarten, extended school days, highly effective teachers and "wrap-around" services including vision and dental. They hope their commitment will spur other efforts to invest directly in the public school programs.

We urge individuals and organizations to do so. CMS anticipates a budget shortfall of up to $100 million next school year as local, state and federal governments reduce funding in a struggling economy. The Republican majority in the N.C. General Assembly is looking at cuts that could make cash-strapped N.C. school systems feel the pain even more as the state faces a potential $3.7 billion shortfall. We hope it considers a more sensible mix of cuts and revenues.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools stand on the precipice of real harm without alternatives to cutting valuable programs and laying off hundreds of teachers. We asked readers for advice on how to deal with the shortfall. Here are more ideas you submitted. Not all the ideas are necessarily workable, but several are intriguing.

Partner library, school, transit

The schools have facilities, most notably libraries and gymnasiums, which typically sit empty in evenings, weekends, holidays and all summer. Most students need public provision for their transportation to and from schools, which comes from buses that, like those facilities, sit idle more often than not.

Being so often an innovative community, when are the leaders and citizens of Charlotte going to look for holistic solutions to their challenges? By seeking ways to partner, the schools, libraries and transit system - not to mention public health, recreation, recycling and likely other providers - should not only find significant cost savings, but also help further build a sense of community.

Stephen A. Laurence, Simpsonville, S.C.

Sports money from businesses:

Save money by:

1) Increase the student parking charge to $200/year.

2) Let high school sports players raise money from community businesses and individuals to support teams. All money goes into a CMS pool so no school will be better off.

3) School bus ads.

4) Stop running near-empty buses.

5) Have students car pool/ walk to community shopping centers for pick-up.

6) All schools should be a magnet. Discontinue supplying some schools like they are private/college prep schools.

Spend some money on:

1) Kindergarten through 3rd grade. These are the most important foundation years. The schools need smaller classes and more teachers' assistants, not fewer.

Linda M. Reid, Charlotte

Delay pay for performance

1) $25 million in federal money was given to the school district to save teacher jobs. This money should be used to save teacher jobs, and not for special projects.

2) One of the superintendent's pet projects has been left untouched by the budget knife: managing for performance. Examine the number of people employed at the district office level to support this initiative. The project should be put on the back burner until the economy rights itself. The money saved could be plowed into school-level funding to save teacher jobs.

3) Lastly, disband the zone offices. This extra level of administration is superfluous to the running of the schools, to the education of our students.

Sonja Krummel, Charlotte

Merge libraries into schools

Close Mecklenburg public libraries and open school libraries to the public after the school day ends. This would save many millions.

John Dill, Charlotte

Sell portables, rent space

Look into "portable" classrooms that are used to accommodate student overcrowding. They are paid for from an operating rather than a capital account, to avoid strict rules for spending on permanent buildings. Empty commercial real estate locations close to children's homes could be used as classrooms. Return the "mobiles" to the lessors, or sell them to other districts, and rent empty spaces.

David Loughran, Indian Trail

Hire walk guides; stop busing

I got this idea from an article in the Wall Street Journal a couple of years ago. It described a city or town in Europe that did what I will describe below, and saved many millions of euros. Rather than transporting students by bus who live within two miles of school, hire an adult person to walk them safely to school. This adult guide would follow a route to "pick up" all the students assigned to him/her. The advantages of this plan are: Fewer school buses and less expenses related to buses; reduction in air pollution generated by these school buses; reduction in childhood obesity caused by lack of exercise. The only disadvantage would be the necessity for the children to walk in poor weather conditions.

Carter Alden, Charlotte