LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Officials with Greater Clark County Schools said the district needs to act fast on slashing more than $6 million from its budget.
Superintendent Mark Laughner on Friday spoke with WDRB News about his plan to save the southern Indiana school district money — and to dispel some of the rumors floating around on social media.
"We didn't want to lay people off," he said. "We feel like we've found a way to do that.
"Misinformation is out there, such as we're cutting related arts at the elementary level," he added. "That's not the case."
GCCS' cost-reduction plan calls for a list of actions, including closing two schools and eliminating some positions. Laughner, however, said no one is getting fired.
"We will find a job for them in the district," he said. "We're not cutting anybody or anything like that. We'll absorb them through attrition."
The plan calls for reducing 12 bus routes. Laughner on Friday dispelled rumors about children needing to walk long distances to their nearest school or bus stop.
The plan also calls for outsourcing custodians, but Laughner said he wants to work with a company that will retain its custodial staff.
"We want all of our people to have the opportunity to continue to work for us," he said.
GCCS' financial issues started in 2015, when the previous administration started spending millions of dollars in the red. The school district in 2020 only had $100,000 in its education and operations budgets, respectively, which is several million dollars below the average healthy budget of a school system.
Years after the state changed how it funds schools, GCCS refused to make cuts, said Laughner, who pointed to similar cuts New Albany-Floyd County Schools made in 2010.
"I'm not sure why we didn't do that as a district years ago," he said.
As for recent athletic facility upgrades, Laughner said that money comes from property taxes, and it's against the law to move those funds to balance other parts of the budget.
If the district doesn't take action on correcting its financial issues, it could eventually risk a state takeover.
"It could get to that point," Laughner said, "if we don't step up and fix it ourselves."
Related Stories:
- GCCS hopes to tame deficit spending with budget cuts, superintendent says
- GCCS proposes closing 2 schools, cutting jobs to save $6 million
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