Glendale-River Hills School District cuts 13 positions to save $1M following deficit discovery

Two days after the Glendale-River Hills School Board voted unanimously to cut staffing by $1 million for the 2024-25 school year, the board announced it would be cutting 13 positions dispersed between Parkway Elementary School, Glen Hills Middle School and the district.

The cuts are part of the district's ongoing financial course correction after discovering budgeting errors that set it on track for financial disaster.

The school board learned of a $3.6 million budget deficit in January. The district has said the shortfall in funding is because of errors in accounting and budgeting by employees who are no longer in the district.

According to a letter from the board sent on Friday, March 22, the 13 cut positions are as follows:

• District (3 positions): registrar, board and superintendent secretary, custodian

• Parkway Elementary School (3 positions): two substitute teachers, SEL (social and emotional learning) support position

• Glen Hills Middle School (7 positions): supervisory aide, SEL support position, library teacher, two substitute teachers, world language teacher, math teacher

The reductions were prepared by administration and approved by the board based on a "deep understanding of programs, student needs, and staffing priorities," according to the letter. It also assured the community that no course offerings will be removed, saying the cuts were "strategically selected to keep reductions away from classrooms as much as possible."

The majority of the reductions were achieved through attrition, resulting from resignations or retirements to mitigate the impact on existing staff, according to the letter, as the board had indicated at the March 20 meeting.

In a March 21 letter to staff, Superintendent Alyson Weiss said attrition in positions due to resignation or retirement comprised 71.5% of the reductions.

The letter also indicates that six of the 13 cuts are due to attrition, though School Board President Danielle Bailey said some of the staff members affected by the non-renewed positions will remain working for the district under different contracts.

After discovering the deficit, the board hired financial consultants to audit and investigate past revenue and spending data.

While the district awaits more information on how the accounting and budgeting errors occurred, the board said it would "forge ahead in building a fiscally responsible path forward, while always keeping in mind our singular goal of offering an exceptional education to our students."

The board also addressed residents' desires for transparency throughout the process of explaining and fixing the district's financials, a sentiment echoed by several attendees of the March 20 meeting.

Moving forward, the board said it would make every effort to provide regular written updates as the budget work progresses. The board published a host of informational resources on the district's website, including an FAQ on the budget and communications with staff.

Contact Claudia Levens at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @levensc13

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Glendale-River Hills cuts 13 positions to address budget deficit