GREENCASTLE -- About 25 instructional assistants for the Greencastle Community School Corp. will have their work hours cut, effective Jan. 18.
The aides will all be working one less hour per day. The cuts will save the corporation about $90,000 over a 12-month period.
The GCSC Board approved the cuts at its meeting Wednesday as part of an effort to trim a significant amount from the corporation's budget.
On Dec. 31, GCSC superintendent Robert Green received a letter from the Indiana Department of Education stating the district's 2010 tuition support funding allocation would be an estimated $11,664,488.73 -- about $471,000 less than was originally expected.
"This happened as of Jan. 1," Green told the board. "We had no time to get ready and offset it."
Green presented the board with a list of several other cost-cutting suggestions, most of which, if approved, would take effect in August. Those suggestions included:
* Closing the Miller School building.
* Closing Ridpath School.
* Eliminating four part-time teachers.
* Eliminating six full-time teachers.
* Cutting all salaries corporation-wide by 3.5 percent.
* Eliminating all vocational offerings.
* Cutting in some areas of high school sports.
* Eliminating summer school.
* Reducing expenditures for school libraries.
* Eliminating the district newsletter.
* Eliminating middle school sports.
* Freezing teacher step raises.
Green said he didn't like to "be all doom and gloom," but that he wanted to present the facts realistically.
"The financial situation is not looking good," he said. "It's not a very pleasant subject."
Green said the funding that would not be received would have gone into the corporation's general fund -- about 94 percent of which is used to pay personnel.
"When you look at things to cut, it doesn't give you a lot of wiggle room," he said.
Green is working with a committee of about 40 people -- about 40 percent of which are not school employees -- to explore possible budget cuts.