With economic struggles hitting the entire nation, it is hard to find someone who has not been affected.
“A decision to eliminate positions throughout our schools has been proposed the School Board, and they will announce their decision Feb. 17,” Principal Chris Greiner said.
The district revenue will fall short $10.3 million.
“Our district’s projected expenditures for next year is $174.9 million, while our revenue is projected to be $164.5 million,” Greiner said, “The School Board is willing to deficit spend $3 million, decreasing the gap to $7.3 million.”
The decreased budget is a consequence of the economy recession and the decrease in business and home values.
“The district gets its money from property taxes and sales taxes,” Greiner said. “With the economy down and home values decreasing, the schools are receiving less money.”
With the cuts, the district must also consolidate faculty.
“FHHS will have reductions in staff for 11-12, including one of our dean positions,” Greiner said.
The dean position being cut means one dean, the one with less seniority, Dean Chris Birch, will need to find a different position.
Along with the dean’s position elimination, the distinct will be cutting summer pay.
“FHSD is cutting some of the days in the summer where the faculty would usually work,” Greiner said. “The librarians are getting reduced from 10 days to two, while the counselors come in only 10 of the normal 15 days during the summer.”
This means these people will be seeing a pay cut. However, the district does plan to give all teachers lane and step changes. This will increase all base teacher salaries if ratified. And while the district’s budget for next year has decreased drastically, the construction is not to blame.
“The district budget has nothing to do with the new school we are adding to our campus,” Greiner said. “The money we used to build our school came from a different funding source called the Debt Service Fund, and the district cannot use it except for new construction.”