Citing declining enrollment and state revenues, the North Vermillion School Corp. must reduce the number of certified and classified employees for the next school year, says Superintendent Mike Turner.
Details about numbers of people affected and the positions affected are still being discussed, he said.
The school board met in closed session Tuesday night and will meet again the week of April 13.
The district is targeting a minimum of $500,000 in cuts by December 2015, Turner said. It has already reduced supply and material expenses.
The cuts will be significant for the small school district, which has about 60 teachers and 40 support staff, he said. Officials hope that some of the reductions occur through attrition. “If we have some voluntary retirements, the cuts will not be as deep,” Turner said. Several employees are eligible to retire but have not yet informed the district if they plan to do so.
Turner said the cuts are necessary because of finances. “Basically it is due to declining enrollment,” he said.
Eight years ago, the district had 770 students in grades K-12; this fall, enrollment was at 678, and this February the student count was 696. With each student generating about $6,000 in state funds, “that is a major cut,” Turner said.
In 1985, the district had 1,050 students in grades K-12. The state Department of Education projects that in the next three to five years, the district’s enrollment will drop to about 650 students.
Turner attributes the declining enrollment to “lack of a job market in this area.” People are moving to places such as Terre Haute, Indianapolis, Plainfield and Brownsburg, he said. “I can’t blame them.”
The district also has seen its funding drop. In 2008, the general fund approved by the state was $6.1 million. In 2015, the comparable number was $4.3 million.
Turner said that the last two years “we’ve maintained programs that we probably should have cut.” Now, it must move forward with those cuts.
By law, teaching staff must be notified between May 1 and July 1 if the cuts are the result of declining enrollments and finances, Turner said. “The board wants to notify everybody at the same time, both certified and classified.”
He expects to have firm numbers for reductions by the end of the month.
The district has one campus and two buildings, an elementary K-6 building and a junior-senior high that serves grades 7-12.
Asked about the possibility of future, long-term options such as consolidation, Turner said that with Vermillion County’s geographical makeup, “I’m not sure that’s logistically possible to do.” School districts in the area are cutting costs through shared programs and services such as for special education and vocational education.