CHAMPAIGN – Budget cuts for the coming school year should result in the loss of no more than 10 jobs in the Champaign school district.

The school board is scheduled to vote on a list of about $1.5 million in cuts when it meets at 6 p.m. Monday at the Mellon Administrative Center, 703 S. New St., C.

The proposed cuts include one administrator and three coordinator positions at the central office; one teacher at Dr. Howard Elementary School (based on enrollment); choral accompanists at the high schools; and staffing cuts at each of the middle and high schools, to be made at the discretion of the principals.

The middle and high school cuts will include the loss of three or four support staff positions, said Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Beth Shepperd. Most of the cuts at those schools, though, will be a loss in the number of days worked by certain employees, rather than the loss of a job, Shepperd said.

There will be similar changes in working conditions for employees throughout the district. For example, the proposed budget cuts call for reducing the number of days worked by food service employees, hall monitors and some clerical staff. One of the district's nurses will work the same days as teachers, cutting some of her administrative time during summer months.

The proposed cuts also include pooling bus stops, so children in some areas will be picked up at a centrally located stop; cutting building budgets by 10 percent; reducing administrative overtime; eliminating the differentials paid to building leaders; eliminating stipends for assistant athletic directors and/or eliminating coaching positions; and eliminating open lunch for sophomores.

The list of proposed budget cuts is still a draft and will likely look slightly different by the time of the board meeting on Monday, said Chief Financial Officer Gene Logas.

After the budget cuts are approved, Shepperd will meet with the teacher and support staff unions to talk about any loss of jobs or changes in working conditions. Then the district will present a list of proposed layoffs to the school board at its March 28 meeting.

That list will be long – possibly as many as 150 employees, Shepperd said. Part of the reason is because any employees whose working conditions are being changed must be laid off, then rehired with the altered working conditions, according to state law, Shepperd said.

The district also routinely lays off certain employees every year – part-time employees, those hired after the school year has begun and those whose salaries are paid for with grant money. Most end up being rehired once the district knows it will receive grant money or knows what staffing levels are needed based on the coming year's enrollment.

School districts by law must notify any employees by the end of March of its intent to lay them off.