KNIGHTSTOWN - After months of making cuts, Charles A. Beard Memorial School Corp. has what officials hope is a balanced budget without eliminating teachers.
The school board voted Wednesday evening to eliminate one more position, the central office payroll clerk. Supt. Gary Storie said barring future budget cuts from the state, that could be the corporation's final cut. The corporation should even end the year with a balance of more than $330,000.
"I feel pretty good that we got to this point," Storie said.
This year the state cut about $338,000 from CAB's budget. Storie told the board that since then, he's dropped hourly workers to 35 hours a week and reduced the corporation's purchases and travel.
The board also cut the corporation's transportation director as well as a high school aide and a custodian on top of Wednesday's cut.
A change in the corporation's insurance program also saved about $190,000. Storie said the board negotiated with the teachers association to change from a plan with no deductibles or co-pays to the state employees' plan.
Teachers could incur more medical costs on the new plan, he said after the meeting, but initial savings to both teachers and the corporation are significant.
Storie said four retirements also had an effect. Two positions, the high school technology teacher and media specialist, won't be replace. After the meeting, Storie said the high school will rearrange some positions to make up for the cut.
CAB will see savings from the other two retirements, he said, because those teachers will be replaced with people lower on the pay scale.
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