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Dozens of jobs on the chopping block for Galesburg schools

On Tuesday, January 5, 2016, Superintendent Ralph Grimm laid out a series of recommendations that would cut nearly $3.3 million from the district’s budget for f...

Millions of dollars in cuts are looming for the Galesburg School District.

On Tuesday, January 5, 2016, Superintendent Ralph Grimm laid out a series of recommendations that would cut nearly $3.3 million from the district’s budget for fiscal year 2017.

The proposal includes moving the district’s alternative high school, GHS North, to the main high school campus. The plan would also eliminate dozens of jobs, including 22 teaching positions.

Grimm said the cuts are necessary in light of a current $2.6 million budget deficit. The district has operated under deficit budgets for the past five years, and 8 out of the last 12 years. Enrollment is also down 7 percent over the past decade, while staffing has increased 16 percent.

In addition, the district is owed roughly $6.8 million in state aid that it hasn’t received over the past six years.

“At the end of the day, our task is not just to address the budget shortfall for today, but to look at how to keep the district viable for the next 10 years,” said Grimm.

After the presentation, Board of Education members and administrators spent nearly two hours answering questions from parents and community members, who raised a number of concerns.

“Where’s the hurt and pain that the central office is experiencing?” asked retired teacher Jim Jacobs.

Grimm said roughly a third of the recommended cuts are administrative, including the elimination of all middle school dean positions, one assistant principal at GHS, and the director of curriculum and instruction.

He said the goal is to spread reductions out across the district, while avoiding eliminating any current program.

“If there’s gonna be pain, share the pain as much as you can. And frankly, as we looked at everything, it became clear that we could do that,” said Grimm. “I feel pretty good about being able to say that we haven’t cut any program entirely.”

The Board of Education could vote on the cuts as soon as Monday, January 11, 2016.

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