Eliminating nine staff members, freezing extracurricular positions, offering a retirement incentive and transferring money from other funds are all part of a package of additional actions proposed by Whitley County Consolidated Schools administration Monday to cope with budget cuts.
“WCCS has to live within its means, just like any other household,” Superintendent Pat O’Connor said in introducing the plan.
The WCCS budget needed to be reduced by a total of 11.3 percent, or $2.6 million, since it was originally advertised, administrators said.
About $1.6 million was cut in December by making line-by-line reductions. Some of the measures taken included eliminating an SAT preparation class offered during the day, not purchasing any new library books, instituting a hiring freeze and reducing staff travel.
To compensate for the most recent reduction in state support to the general fund, which totaled about $1 million, O’Connor and Business Manager Tony Zickgraf worked on a plan that was presented to the board Monday.
Eleven full time teachers and one half time teacher were approved by the board Monday for retirement with a $25,000 stipend to be paid out of the rainy day fund. This retirement incentive will save the school an estimated $900,000 over the next two years, O’Connor said.
Four of the positions will be re-hired, four and the half-time position will be reassigned to other teachers and three will remain unfilled.
Administrators also negotiated with the Whitley County Teachers Association, and the result was that the teachers agreed to forego a 2.5 percent raise scheduled for next year and to temporarily give up two paid work days at the beginning of the semester to save jobs.
Despite these efforts, five certified and four classified positions were recommended to be cut, as about 90 percent of the general fund goes toward employee salaries and benefits. O’Connor said the positions to be cut were chosen based on current student enrollment in classes.
Those positions were one family and consumer sciences teacher, two business teachers, one science teacher, one radio and television part-time teacher and four other non-certified staff members. The corporation will also cancel a contract with its part-time energy manager.
Another part of the proposal was a freeze on extracurricular positions, which would mean leaving 39 extracurricular positions at the high school and 26 at the middle school unfilled. “We have not eliminated any programs,” O’Connor noted, following concerns voiced earlier in the meeting that the school might cut arts and extracurricular programs.
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