{"id":343112,"date":"2010-02-20T11:16:46","date_gmt":"2010-02-20T16:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chicagopressrelease.com\/press-releases\/district-plans-budget-cuts-layoffs-to-counter-shortfall"},"modified":"2010-02-20T11:16:46","modified_gmt":"2010-02-20T16:16:46","slug":"district-plans-budget-cuts-layoffs-to-counter-shortfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/343112","title":{"rendered":"District plans budget cuts, layoffs to counter shortfall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMAHOMET \u2013 The Mahomet-Seymour school district has announced proposed cuts to its 2011 budget totaling $643,211, including employee layoffs and some cuts to programs.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to a letter released to the media and public on Friday, the cuts are a direct result of the state’s revenue crisis.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe state is currently running an estimated $12 billion deficit.<\/p>\n

\n\t“We’ll have to take precautionary steps, because there are some question marks out there right now,” Keith Oates, superintendent of Mahomet-Seymour schools, said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThose question marks include the lack of a state budget for fiscal year 2011.<\/p>\n

\n\tOates said the district is waiting to see what Gov. Pat Quinn will say in his budget address on March 10.<\/p>\n

\n\tUntil then, the district is working with what it knows. The district is estimating a deficit of $593,825 for fiscal year 2011, based on the fact that there will be no increase in general state aid.<\/p>\n

\n\tOates said the state usually increased the foundation level, which usually meant more money for the district.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere also will be no increases in the administrators’ and administrative staff salaries or for non-union salaries.<\/p>\n

\n\tReductions and cuts had to be proposed because the Mahomet-Seymour Education Association union labor contract will expire in August.<\/p>\n

\n\tEmployees must be given 60 days notice before the end of the school year if their employment will be affected by cuts. <\/span>But if the district starts to hear positive information, changes may be made to reductions.<\/p>\n

\n\t“Just because we’re doing this in March, nothing stops us from reinstating some or all of these reductions,” Oates said.<\/p>\n

\n\tCuts being considered include technology, district-wide decentralized budgets, enrichment programs, reductions to number of classes, enrichment program, a high school assistant cross country coach, high school multi-media club, high school chess club, intramural programs, junior high speech team sponsor, a custodial position and a special education teacher.<\/p>\n

\n\tOates said it is important to remember that these are only proposed reductions.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat being the case, the board is scheduled to hold a special meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 4, at Middletown Early Childhood Center to hear public comment. The board will take action on the items at its March 15 meeting.<\/p>\n

\n\tProposed reductions being considered for FY11 Budget:<\/p>\n

\n\tTechnology $100,000<\/p>\n

\n\tDistrictwide decentralized budgets (10 percent reduction) $72,165<\/p>\n

\n\tOne kindergarten class (reduce from 12 half-day sections to 10 half-day sections) $45,870<\/p>\n

\n\tOne second-grade class (class size will increase from 22 to 24 with eight sections rather than nine) $45,870<\/p>\n

\n\tOne third-grade class (class size will increase from 22 to 24 with eight sections rather than nine) $45,870<\/p>\n

\n\tOne fourth-grade class (class size will increase from 22 to 24 with eight sections rather than nine) $45,870<\/p>\n

\n\tOne fifth-grade class (class size will increase from 22 to 24 with eight sections rather than nine) $45,870<\/p>\n

\n\tEnrichment Program $116,500<\/p>\n

\n\tOne full-time high school position $45,870<\/p>\n

\n\tHigh School assistant cross country coach $7,511<\/p>\n

\n\tHigh School multi-media club $2,781<\/p>\n

\n\tHigh School chess club $2,801<\/p>\n

\n\tHigh School intramural $1,647<\/p>\n

\n\tJunior High Speech Team sponsor $2,431<\/p>\n

\n\tJunior High Intramural programs $4,080<\/p>\n

\n\tCustodial Position $35,140<\/p>\n

\n\tFull-time Education teacher $22,935<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MAHOMET \u2013 The Mahomet-Seymour school district has announced proposed cuts to its 2011 budget totaling $643,211, including employee layoffs and some cuts to programs. According to a letter released to the media and public on Friday, the cuts are a direct result of the state’s revenue crisis. The state is currently running an estimated $12 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-343112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}