H-H May Cut ‘Minimum’ 5.5 Jobs

staff in jeopardy of losing their jobs could know by June if theirs are one of the “minimum” 5.5 positions poised to be cut as officials continue wrangling with a .

Of those positions, Superintendent Curtis Griffin said three are held by long-term substitute teachers. Others could be handled through attrition as staff retires.

“We’re still working through that. We’re hoping we won’t have to impact people, but at the end of the day we might,” Griffin said. “I’m a little more cautious. I want to make sure we’re making good decisions.”

In addition to reductions in staffing, Griffin said tightening the belt with the $86.5 million 2012-2013 could also mean program changes and reductions, as opposed to “major” cuts carried out last year.  

As part of a budget update presented during Monday night’s school board meeting, Robert Reichert, the district’s director of business affairs, said the projected budget gap – with the inclusion of a 1.7 percent tax hike – dropped from $709,304 in January to $166,166 currently. Without the tax increase figured in, the shortfall in January was $1.7 million and $1.1 million currently.

The budget represents a roughly 2.2 percent increase from the current spending plan, he said, and accounts for a little more than $3 million incorporated from the district’s fund balance.

Since the board vowed to stay within the 1.7 percent Act 1 index for tax increases, Reichert said more cuts would need to be made before the board’s preliminary budget adoption on May 7 and final budget adoption on June 18.

Staffing cuts, in the amount of $262,525, were the highest cut Reichert noted Monday. Medical cost reductions netted a savings of $182,994.

One of the biggest unknowns is the true amount necessary for special education funding. Reichert noted a $246,000 cost increase resulting from new move-ins, interpreters and related factors. The figure, he said, “remains very fluid” as at least 22 new special education students will be enrolled in the school district next year and in need of services.