LAKE STATION — Nearly seven months after the renewal of Lake Station Community Schools' operating referendum lost by 14 votes, the school board approved a series of spending cuts meant to balance its budget during a special meeting Tuesday.
As part of the cuts, the district will lay off 37 non-certified employees, including custodians, office clerks, paraprofessionals and a high school administrator. The job cuts will result in a savings of over $635,000.
According to Superintendent Tom Cripliver, it was the first set of job cuts with the district looking at laying off teachers and other certified staff members.
Lake Station will also reduce its busing services to three days a week for the first half of next school year, with students having synchronous e-learning days the other two days. Bus transportation will be completely eliminated in February.
In February, the school approved a precautionary measure that would eliminate transportation services in 2025 if the district faced a financial shortfall.
Board President Greg Tenorio noted Tuesday that transportation itself costs the district $800,000 annually, with the operations fund — which pays salaries and transportation costs — only receiving $114,000 from tax levies. While transfers from the education fund partially supported the operations fund, the referendum, which generates around $1.5 million annually for the district, fully funded Lake Station schools' operating budget.
Board member Kevin Music added that the property tax circuit breaker — which caps tax levies on residential properties to 1% of assessed value — resulted in Lake Station Schools losing around $1.5 million last year.
All the school board members expressed their reluctance to approve the layoffs and spending cuts, noting they had to occur due to the operating referendum's narrow defeat.
Additionally, nearly 30 teacher stipends for sponsoring extracurricular activities will be cut, resulting in over $49,000 in savings.
One of the clubs impacted is the high school yearbook publication, The Edisonian. The Edisonian has been published every year since 1941.
The board also approved vendor cost adjustments that will result in savings of around $95,000. According to Cripliver, these adjustments included switching trash service providers, cutting back on landscaping services, and reevaluating their educational software and technology contracts.
Lake Station Community Schools is currently pursuing another attempt to renew its operating referendum, which is set to expire at the end of this year. According to Music, enough signatures have been collected to place the ballot measure on the November ballot. The school board will still need to vote on the referendum question, which may occur as early as next month.
The superintendent and board members all indicated if the referendum renewal is successful, transportation would be fully reinstated and some laid-off employees could be recalled back to work.
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