Monroe County schools may cut 75 positions, eliminate summer school

Around 75 certified staff positions gone, mostly classroom teachers. All media specialists eliminated from school libraries, except at the high schools. Aurora Alternative High School’s building, and some of its staff, gone. Broadview Learning Center youth programming excised.

Those were just some of the harsh realities inherent in 38 separate proposed expenditure reductions that Monroe County Community School Corp. administrators presented to Monroe County Education Association union personnel Friday.

Indiana State Teacher Association regional director Sandy Steele described union members’ reactions as: “Much shock. Dismay. Disappointment.”

Given the class-size ratios previously adopted for next year and the proposed programming cuts, about one 10th of MCCSC’s teachers could lose their jobs if the proposals were fully implemented. MCEA union officials estimated that the personnel cuts would amount to $4.1 million in savings.

The MCCSC is trying to reduce expenditures by at least $4.5 million, partly due an enrollment decline of about 285 students and their accompanying funding, but mainly due to an additional 4.57 percent direct cut in state funding amounting to almost $3 million announced in December.