Cary District 26 mulls another round of cuts
Class sizes could inch up even further and some employees could see their salaries frozen for a second or third year in a row under proposals presented this week in Cary Elementary District 26.
District administration made the recommendations at a Finance Committee meeting this week as part of a bid to balance the budget for the 2011-12 school year.
“No one wants to continue to make reductions to programs and services that affect students and staff,” Director of Finance and Operations T. Ferrier wrote in a memo outlining the reductions. “Unfortunately, these reductions are required to balance the budget.”
The proposals come one year after the district trimmed its budget by $6.6 million by eliminating art, music and physical education and cutting 71 full-time teaching positions.
Although voters in November approved $15 million in working cash bonds, District 26 officials say they still need to cut about $2.5 million to balance next year's budget.
The reductions proposed this week only amount to about $620,000 in savings, with the rest possibly coming from upcoming teacher contract negotiations, the sale of the Maplewood School property, contracts with third-party vendors and state waivers.
The proposed savings include:
&bul; $385,000 in reduced salaries and benefits from not filling vacancies caused by retirements and resignations.
&bul; $100,000 in unemployment costs, possible only if staff is not reduced further.
&bul; $70,000 in reduced supplies.
&bul; $30,000 from freezing support staff pay for a second year in a row.
&bul; $25,000 from moving payroll in house.
&bul; $10,000 from freezing administrator salaries for a third year in a row.
Board President Chris Spoerl said the proposals were a start but that staff should present a comprehensive proposal for how it intends to meet the target of $4 million in savings over the next three years.
“There's a ways to go with this,” Spoerl said. “We need to take a global, long-term view of how this is going to happen over three years.”
The board is scheduled to take action on the reductions in February.