Four teachers and four members of the support staff at Cedarville will receive layoff notices in an effort to balance next year's school budget. The cuts were voted on Friday, March 20, by the school board, which is faced with a projected shortfall of $408,000 at Les Cheneaux Community Schools. Revenue for the 2009/10 school year is estimated to be $2,895,982.

Three full-time teachers, one part-time teacher, two food service staff, and two education aides were issued pink slips Tuesday, March 24, Superintendent Rod Goehmann said. He did not provide their names or grades by press time. Two of the full-time teachers could be reinstated pending the possible retirement of another unnamed teacher.

The budget shortfall can be attributed to declining student enrollment in the district over the past five years, which has dropped more than 25%, Mr. Goehmann said. Current student enrollment is 311 students and the projected fall enrollment is 292.

Two additional support staff members, including one educational aide and one food services staff member, will be reduced from full-time to part-time beginning next fall as a result of reductions made at the meeting.

Under contract, the district must give the teachers 60 days notice that they may be let go. Sixty days from the date of notice coincides with the end of the school year. Support staff, however, need only 10 days notice of layoffs. Mr. Goehmann said the board wanted to extend the same courtesy to the support staff by providing lengthier notice.

The board of education also tabled a vote to issue layoff notices to three custodial staff, pending more information on out-sourcing school custodial services. An exact dollar amount of how much money will be saved through the potential layoffs has yet to be determined, Mr. Goehmann said, but the majority of the savings will come from the pending layoffs. He said the district is working to calculate where additional cuts will be made and expects them to made by the Monday, May 18, board of education meeting.

Trustee Dave Murray regrets the layoffs.

"It's very difficult and it's very sad that we have to do this," he said. "I'm sure all the board members feel the same, but we don't have the resources."

The district is also asking Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to let the district pool employees with another school district so Cedarville can stay on a self-funded insurance plan, Mr. Goehmann said. The insurer requires a minimum of 50 employees to be on the self-funded plan. The pending layoffs would drop the number of district employees from 47 to 39.

Being on the self-funded program, rather than paying premiums, saves the district about $200,000 a year.

In other news, central office secretary Beth Rye has left the school district for a position with the Michigan Department of Human Services.

The school board meeting had been rescheduled from its traditional meeting day of Monday, March 16, to Friday.