Hooven Elementary School will be closed after the Southwest Local Schools board voted for $2.2 million dollars in budget cuts Thursday. file photo

(Harrison, Oh.) – Deep, painful cuts are coming to Southwest Local Schools.

The school board voted Thursday night to make $2.2 million in budget reductions over the next two years. The plan does save some of the jobs and other services from the $2.5 million in cuts the board was considering last month. The district's budget now totals just under $29 million.

Administrators say the cuts were necessary after Southwest suffered cutbacks in state education funding.

“It’s tough. It’s not a good day today, I’ll be honest with you,” Superintendent Chris Brown told Eagle 99.3 Friday morning.

LISTEN TO EAGLE 99.3'S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SOUTHWEST LOCAL SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT CHRIS BROWN.

Having less money will hit all aspects of education in the district. In the classroom, 18 teaching and 24 support staff positions are being eliminated saving the largest chunk at $1.2 million.

Busing for high school students will be gone, saving $408,000 and eliminating eight drivers.

The district will not have to pay a principal or staff at Hooven Elementary as the building is set to close after the current school year. Many of those students will be transferred to Miamitown Elementary or Harrison Elementary.

The district administration office will have to do more with less as well, as the business manager position has been eliminated.

Parents will have to shell out more money to allow their children to play school sports.  Junior high students will pay $50 per sport while high school athletes will pay $100. There is a $500 cap on the pay-to-play per family.

Perhaps worse news is that this may not be the end of budget slashing moves at Southwest Local.

“The big blow to us is the lowering of our property value tax and the state cuts. We’ve lost two or three percent for the last couple years and we’re predicted to lose $2.4 million in the next two years and that’s just devastating,” said Brown.

The superintendent said the district will not be seeking a levy to increase funds anytime soon. Feedback from citizens using an online survey has shown virtually no chance of a levy passing at this time he said.

A list of the cuts can be found on the Southwest Local Schools website at http://www.southwestschools.org/.

LINKS:

SW Local Schools Consider Sweeping Cuts