Staffing cuts at Wolf Creek Public Schools are not as deep as feared.
The district has scaled down its estimated cuts to the equivalent of 4.5 teachers and 15 support staff, said Supt. Larry Jacobs.
Earlier, Wolf Creek projected the district would draw on its reserves for the 2011-2012 school year to deal with a $292,228 shortfall in its $80-million budget.
At the same time, the mostly rural board said it would cut the full-time equivalent of 5.19 teachers and 36.82 support staff because of a combination of not enough funding, declining enrolment and other factors.
But after a couple months of student head counting and a closer look at the numbers, the district predicts the cuts will not be as drastic.
Jacobs said the school principals are generally cautious in their spring budgets and in the fall they re-evaluate the situation.
Contracts for support staff like educational assistants who work with special education students typically expire at the end of June and most are rehired after the summer.
“We re-evaluate the situation to see if the family is still there we still need the supports for the children,” said Jacobs.
“We’ve looked at a lot of that now and we’re thinking by the end of September, we will be right around down 15 from the previous year. Even though we know there were some that are going to be brought back, we were pleasantly surprised to be 15.”
Jacobs said a final enrolment tally will be done by the end of the September.
In the 2010-2011 school year, there was the full-time equivalent of 388.96 teachers and 404.16 support staff.
Wolf Creek has schools in Blackfalds, Ponoka, Lacombe, Rimbey and Bentley.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com