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South-Western enforces layoffs
(by Dedra Cordle, staff writer - June 16, 2010)
After voters approved a 7.4-mill levy in November, the South-Western City Schools administration vowed that they would make the tax levy dollars last until 2013, but would have to cut nearly $15 million from the budget over the next four years in order to do so.
Some of those cuts will come from layoffs, approved by the board of education at the June 14 meeting.
To find ways to scale back the budget, the district commissioned the Auditor of State to conduct a performance audit. The performance audit revealed that the district could save $3.2 million a year by making cuts in several areas including maintenance, transportation and food service.
After reviewing the performance audit's recommendations, the state budget, enrollment predictions and the district's five-year forecast, the board of education announced in April that 49 full-time positions would have to be eliminated by the end of the school year. Sixteen of those cuts would be teaching positions and the remaining 33 would come from classified positions. District officials said that reducing the classified positions would save $1.2 million each year.
During the meeting, the board announced that they had eliminated 14 of those 49 full-time positions. These positions include one bilingual assistant, one bus driver, one cook and 11 custodians.
District Superintendent Dr. Bill Wise said the laid off employees could be called back by the end of summer if other employees resign or retire.
In other news
Because they have the legal status of a school district library, the Southwest Public Libraries have to have budget requests approved by the district's board of education.
The board unanimously approved the library's 2010/11 fiscal year budget, predicted to be $7.95 million.
The district will also close its 2010 fiscal year books and open the 2011 fiscal year budget predictions at the June 28 board of education meeting. The meeting, which will be held at the District Service Center, located at 3805 Marlane Dr. in Grove City, begins at noon.
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