May 31, 2017 at 4:59 p.m.
Preserving programs
Gulley emphasizes what was kept over what was cut
Preserving programs
It’s not about what was cut, but rather what was kept.
That was the message Jay School Corporation superintendent Jeremy Gulley offered Tuesday during his State of the Schools Address as part of the Jay County Chamber of Commerce networking luncheon at Jay County Hospital.
Gulley for the most part shared the same information he presented about his budget control plan at last week’s Jay School Board meeting. The basics of the plan call for eliminating 37 staff positions over the course of the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years in an effort to push the general fund balance from its current mark of just over $1.4 million to about $2.25 million by 2020.
Though those personnel cuts and others are necessary for financial stability, Gulley said, he emphasized what was kept in place.
“The plan is not marked so much by what is cut, but by what is kept,” he said. “We have been able to go through a good process that returns to financial soundness in our schools while at the same time preserving the things that educators in our school district said they would like to preserve.”
Those items included the corporation’s preschool program, elementary school reading recovery, middle school instructional teaming and high school vocational and college prep programming.
Gulley also reminded those in attendance that while 28 staff positions will be eliminated for the next school year, the full financial impact of those changes will not be felt until 2018. The corporation still projects a budget deficit for 2017.
He pointed to the importance of preserving programs, but doing so within the corporation’s financial means.
“Clearly the consequences for inaction are stunningly difficult to comprehend,” Gulley said. “You do not have to travel very far from where you’re sitting to see school corporations that are in state takeover or have not made the tough decisions that were necessary to preserve the best parts of their program.
“Clearly we are doing that here, making those decisions now in order to preserve the schools the way they ought to be, which is serving kids.”
That was the message Jay School Corporation superintendent Jeremy Gulley offered Tuesday during his State of the Schools Address as part of the Jay County Chamber of Commerce networking luncheon at Jay County Hospital.
Gulley for the most part shared the same information he presented about his budget control plan at last week’s Jay School Board meeting. The basics of the plan call for eliminating 37 staff positions over the course of the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years in an effort to push the general fund balance from its current mark of just over $1.4 million to about $2.25 million by 2020.
Though those personnel cuts and others are necessary for financial stability, Gulley said, he emphasized what was kept in place.
“The plan is not marked so much by what is cut, but by what is kept,” he said. “We have been able to go through a good process that returns to financial soundness in our schools while at the same time preserving the things that educators in our school district said they would like to preserve.”
Those items included the corporation’s preschool program, elementary school reading recovery, middle school instructional teaming and high school vocational and college prep programming.
Gulley also reminded those in attendance that while 28 staff positions will be eliminated for the next school year, the full financial impact of those changes will not be felt until 2018. The corporation still projects a budget deficit for 2017.
He pointed to the importance of preserving programs, but doing so within the corporation’s financial means.
“Clearly the consequences for inaction are stunningly difficult to comprehend,” Gulley said. “You do not have to travel very far from where you’re sitting to see school corporations that are in state takeover or have not made the tough decisions that were necessary to preserve the best parts of their program.
“Clearly we are doing that here, making those decisions now in order to preserve the schools the way they ought to be, which is serving kids.”
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