Plan includes staffing adjustments and reductions
Cardinal Schools Board of Education will vote on a proposed staffing plan for the 2016-17 school year at its May 11 meeting.
The plan includes the retention of 154 certified, classified, confidential and administrative employees, and the placement of 13 employee positions onto a reduction-in-force (RIF) list.
Two employee contracts are not expected to be renewed — one due to budgetary cuts and the other due to a contract expiration at the end of the school year.
“Reducing our staff is certainly not the preference of anyone in this district or on this board,” said board President Ken Klima. “You hope to have enough attrition each year, through retirements or resignations, to offset any need for a reduction in force, but that’s not the case for us this year.”
The proposed staffing plan would save the district approximately $864,000 next year.
However, the district’s five-year forecast shows continued state funding cuts, increased insurance premiums and lack of new money coming in from local levies will leave the district with a $960,000 deficit beginning in fiscal year 2018.
A potential $400,000 healthcare insurance premium savings and the approval of tax levies on upcoming ballots would put Cardinal in a better financial position moving into the future.
“We have a duty to be fiscally responsible to the taxpayers of this district,” Superintendent Scott J. Hunt said. “When there’s that big of a deficit to overcome, you explore every avenue to find ways to maximize cost savings.”
While a reduction in force is part of that, Hunt said enrollment and student needs can also dictate staffing adjustments and reductions.
“Our needs for next year are shifting and part of this is adjusting to meet those needs in a fiscally responsible way,” he added.
There will be no change to the current student services or programs currently offered within the district, Hunt said.
