LIVINGSTON - There wasn't a whole lot of discussion between school board members Thursday night, but there was one thing everyone could agree on: they need to start combing through expenses to find teachers a raise.

"The teachers deserve a raise, they work very hard, and I'm very committed to helping find them a raise," concerned citizen, Julia Easterly said.

Easterly begged the school board multiple times for that opportunity to be a part of the task force.

"There's got to be some places that we can scrub and rearrange money to get the teachers a pay raise," Easterly said at the meeting.

The 11-member task force is being established after a one-percent sales tax that would have provided money for raises failed at the polls last month.

Easterly believes enough time has already passed and teachers deserve more now, but Superintendent Joe Murphy says it may take the task force at least five months before they present their findings of where the school can save money.

"They did not name the people on the committee tonight. They just established there will be 11 members and representatives from different organizations on that committee," Murphy said.

The school board also intends on hiring a consultant to go over the numbers, but the board voted to hold off advertising for that position until they get a closer look at the request for proposal.

"The information from the cost-saving task force will go to the third party consultant," Murphy said.

The board has already agreed to do several things to address concerns and burdens, including ending the school year a week early for students. That will allow teachers to focus on end-of-the-year work.

Full-time employees will also be getting a stipend in May that was approved last year.

The board will submit recommendations to the chairperson, Brad Sharp, about who should be on the task force.