South Madison passes $2 million in budget reductions, cutting 15 jobs

Dave Stafford, Herald Bulletin

PENDLETON, Ind.­ — As many as 15 teachers will lose their jobs under budget cuts unanimously approved Thursday by the South Madison Community Schools board.

Nearly $2 million in annual savings were approved that cut teaching positions — up to eight at the high school, two in the middle school and five in elementary schools. The schools also will eliminate four nursing positions and replace them with emergency medical technicians, and replace four librarians with noncertified personnel.

The board also voted to eliminate student-run WEEM radio, despite appeals from students at a board meeting last month that produced a sympathetic reaction from Superintendent Tom Warmke.

Board member Mike Gaskill asked the board to vote on the cuts without the WEEM program, but no board members supported his motion.

“It breaks my heart to have to do any of this,” board member Chris Boots said. “We simply do not have the money. It doesn’t exist.”

South Madison, like other Indiana school districts, is feeling the pinch of revenues that have fallen well below forecasts. For South Madison, the current shortfall is more than $2.2 million.

“To reduce $2.2 million from the general fund budget without cutting expenses in the area of benefits and salaries is virtually impossible,” said Chief Financial Officer Joe Buck, who said salaries and benefits account for 86 percent of general fund spending.

Warmke on Thursday produced a comparison of school districts statewide that he said showed South Madison teachers were among the highest compensated in the state when insurance benefits were factored in, countering teacher claims that South Madison salaries are among the state’s lowest.

The schools have been negotiating with the South Madison Classroom Teachers Association to try to reach an agreement that would reduce insurance benefits and potentially allow some of the cuts to be reversed.

Several patrons on Thursday night urged both sides to move quickly to reach an agreement. A bargaining session is scheduled for Monday.

“I’ll be ready to come back to the table if we get something settled” and restore some of the cuts if savings can be negotiated with the teachers union, Boots said.

But Mike Quinton said the board should look to its stated core values that include putting students first. “Lower teacher pay, lower teacher benefits, how is that putting students first?”

Board Vice President Terry Aucker urged negotiators to “be honest with one another, be realistic and be fair.”

Students asked that librarians and band programs be spared, and requested the board not institute “pay to play.”

“I plead with the teachers to cut their insurance,” said Devon Custer, who with other band students urged the board not to eliminate the sixth-grade band program.

Russell Kischuk told the board he participated in numerous extracurricular activities. “If I had to pay for each one I’m in, I wouldn’t be in as many as I am,” he said.

Transfer students OK’d

The South Madison Community Schools board on Thursday unanimously approved a policy to allow students to transfer into the district, after narrowly rejecting the policy last school year. Allowing as many as 150 students next year could raise $750,000.