Education Matters US

Grayslake Elementary is cutting 29 jobs to help alleviate a budget deficit. The District did not get as much of a revenue increase from property taxes due CPI being only 0.1 %. Since around 80% of the district’s expenditures are for salaries the only place to make up the $2.3 million deficit is to cut salaries or positions.

Declining tax revenue caused by the recession was cited as the main reason for eliminating 29 positions at Grayslake Elementary District 46 for the 2009-10 academic year.

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Board members voted 6-1 in favor of the staffing reductions, with Mark Hannan as the lone dissenter.

District 46 officials have taken a number of measures to plug a budget deficit of at least $2.3 million for next school year. The staff reductions were part of an overall budget-reduction package tentatively pegged at $2.8 million.

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Among the 29 full- and part-time positions eliminated were general and special education teachers, clerical staffers, a psychologist and program assistants.

Last fall the district signed a contract giving teachers somewhere in the neighborhood of 4% raises. By giving into the teachers’ union demands for such large raises in these poor economic times the district had no choice but to make these cuts to personnel. This was a sound financial district instead of going to the taxpayers to gouge them in a referendum. The problem though was self inflicted and could have been prevented last fall by standing strong and only allowing raises that matched CPI. If they had done so, nearly every one these jobs could have been saved. If you want to complain about the cuts, remember it was caused by the teachers’ unions demands for raises that far outstripped CPI.