PORTER TWP. | The equivalent of five full-time teaching positions will be cut in Porter Township School Corp. schools.
The School Board on Monday approved the layoffs in reaction to the funding crunch in public education.
Positions in speech, health, eighth-grade language arts and math technology, as well as half-time positions in band and elementary teaching will be cut
The layoffs come in addition to teacher salary concessions approved Monday by the union and the district administration.
Two teacher work days when students are not in session will be cut from the 2010-2011 calendar, reducing contract days from 185 to 183. The eliminated days will result in a 1 percent pay cut to teachers.
Teachers also waived the annual contribution to their health savings accounts, which is equivalent to 1 percent of salary.
In addition, the pay scale for extracurricular instruction positions will be cut by 20 percent across the board. High school department heads and middle school team leaders will lose stipends of up to $2,000 they had received as extra compensation for serving in the leadership positions. They each will receive $100 instead.
The district will also not offer fifth-grade basketball and will eliminate that coaching position.
The concessions from teachers will result in about $140,000 in savings, Superintendent Nick Brown said.
The cuts will result in some larger class sections and some consolidation of smaller classes, Brown said.
The layoffs come in addition to the elimination of 3 1/2 positions because of reduced enrollment announced earlier in the year.
Gov. Mitch Daniels' call for a $300 million cut to public schools' 2010 budgets resulted in Porter Township needing to cut $800,000.
The cuts have left Porter Township with a 2010 general fund budget just about equal to that of 2004, with every indication from the state the cuts will be permanent, Brown said.