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player ready...School District 15 officials are considering a plan to pare the teaching staff to balance the budget.
The school board Wednesday is expected to discuss options for eliminating a $2.5 million shortfall, which officials blame on soaring enrollment and state cutbacks.
“We are a growing district; we have had a steady influx of students,” said Kathy Merkelz, a Lake Louise Elementary School teacher and president of the district’s Classroom Teachers Council.
“We had (extra) money coming in from a referendum passed a few years ago,” she said, “but legislative action has put a crimp on that.”
An ad hoc committee is studying the budget problem and will recommend possible solutions to Supt. John Conyers, said Merkelz, a committee member.
Some of the options include eliminating all reading consultants, who conduct diagnostic services for students; reducing resource center teachers to half time at the elementary schools; replacing certified school nurses with health aides; and eliminating art teachers.
“We’d like there to be as few layoffs as possible and have cuts in areas that won’t affect students,” Merkelz said. “We need to maintain personnel.”