Suttons Bay may lay off 30 in schools

By LINDSAY VanHULLE
lvanhulle@record-eagle.com

June 28, 2008 12:00 am

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SUTTONS BAY -- Administrators at Suttons Bay Public Schools will recommend the layoffs of nearly 30 staff members for next year to help ease an anticipated budget deficit.

School board members will discuss the cuts, to include both certified and support staff, during a budget hearing Monday. Certified employees include teachers, counselors and social workers.

The district is facing a deficit of about $1 million, due in part to declining enrollment, a drop in federal aid and rising energy costs.

Suttons Bay will bring in about $7.5 million next year, and plans to spend roughly $8.5 million.

"We're in a business where we've got so many uncontrolled variables," Superintendent Mike Murray said. "I had not anticipated that we were going to do anything for three years."

The district's last layoffs were two years ago.

Staff members will be notified by Monday if their positions could be affected. A full list of positions and employees selected for cuts will be presented to the board during the meeting.

Union contracts call for the newest staff members to be eliminated first, Murray said. Under the recommendations, about 25 part- and full-time positions could be cut, and the remaining five employees could be reassigned to different positions.

The district is basing its budget on 875 full-time equated students next year, a figure that refers to the amount of time students are in the classroom. Last fall, Murray said, nearly 884 were enrolled.

Revenue declined by about $1 million in recent years, largely due to student counts and a reduction in federal aid, Murray said. The district receives federal money because part of its boundaries lie within an Indian reservation.

The budget proposal also trimmed $200,000 in expenses compared to last year, he said, with the completion of capital projects and an efficiency upgrade to the district's energy systems.

Administrators said union leaders were involved in the discussions.

Keven Cross, president of the teacher's union, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Layoffs at Suttons Bay High School will include both certified and support staff "without any great loss of people out of the classroom," Principal Raph Rittenhouse said.

"Because of our class sizes at the high school, it's probably going to be a little less of an impact on certified staff," he said. "We basically have to make sure we have people in place to instruct."

Any laid off employees could be reinstated if revenue comes in above projections, or if more students than projected attend classes this fall, board Vice President Tom Nixon said.

"The district has had to face reductions in staff in the past," Nixon said. "Frankly, I wonder if there's a school district in the state of Michigan that hasn't."