Dozens of coaching positions in Michigan City Area Schools are being cut in a continuing effort to try and close a $16 million budget deficit.
Forty-four coaching positions, mostly those of assistants, were eliminated Tuesday night by the school board.
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About $1.6 million had previously been cut by eliminating more than 100 positions in the school corporation.
Most of the jobs previously cut involved classroom assistants, secretarial positions and maintenance personnel.
Some administrative positions were also eliminated, but very few teachers were laid off, Kintzele said. No head coaching jobs were cut.
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According to school officials, the biggest step taken to close the deficit was the $8 million sale of Joy Elementary School to a building corporation. That generated cash flow for the district, which now is leasing the elementary school from the building corporation.
Kintzele said other cost-cutting moves already taken include outsourcing preschool programs to private child care groups such as Imagination Station and YMCA, which have obtained grants to help offset the expense of those programs.
He said more cuts are possible before the proposed $67 million budget is brought up for a vote, which is expected at the Oct. 9 board meeting.
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Kintzele said more than $700,000 in interest paid on funds borrowed to keep operating during years of unresolved property tax reassessments countywide is one reason for the deficit. Another major contributor was several years of overspending by the previous administration that was kept from the board through various budget transfers, he said.
Kora said the school district also has about 20 percent less revenue coming in because of statewide property tax restructuring.
