MIDDLEBURY -- Middlebury Community Schools administrators will take a 1 percent pay cut to help ease the burden of a $1 million cut to the general fund.
The MCS board approved the cut -- which was recommended by Superintendent Jim Conner -- at its meeting Tuesday. School board members praised administrators for taking the step, which Conner said will save about $16,000.
"We take our leadership from the people at the very top, and I think this is a very courageous and brave move that we are taking," board vice-president Joanna King said.
The administrators will also receive no raises for 2009-10.
The district will lose about $1,063,000 from the general fund for 2010 from a statewide cut of about 4.5 percent in state funding, which Gov. Mitch Daniels announced at the end of 2010. The general fund primarily covers salaries.
Board members approved the first step in making up for the loss in February by approving the transfer of $682,500 from the district's rainy day fund. Conner said at the time that the amount is enough to save 14 teaching positions or about 25 to 30 classified positions.
The district has been hit on other levels, as well. Between the effects of increased property tax caps, the loss of facility appeals which had been previously granted, a $184 million loss in assessed values of properties in the district and the cut in state funding, Middlebury really needs to figure out how to save about $2,575,000, Conner said in February.
MCS officially joined a lawsuit against the state at the end of February, challenging the state's per-pupil funding formula. Conner said some districts receive more than twice as much money per student than Middlebury. The districts involved - MCS, Hamilton Southeastern Schools and Franklin Township Community School Corporation - say the formula punishes growing districts, because it uses past enrollments to calculate funding.
Conner has said he's hopeful the lawsuit can alleviate some of the financial pressure the district faces, but if it does, it will take about three years.