Scott County District 2 school board making budget cuts to make up for $4.3 million it overspent

Bad accounting led to the budget cuts

SCOTT COUNTY, Ind.  Scott County School District 2 overspent millions of dollars. While the board fired the person they said is responsible, they're now faced with some tough decisions and lots of cuts. so the school district is slashing its budget to make up for some bad accounting.

Casey Brewster was the Assistant Superintendent of the school district until he was fired in May for allegations he mismanaged millions of school dollars.

The school board said they overspent $4,300,000 under Brewster's watch. In order to get out of this financial hole, they are making cuts.

“And we really hate that this is what we're going to have to do, but we have to get back into the black and we have to take it back down to where we can financially afford it,” Andrea Soloe, president of Scott County School District 2's board, said.

According to the district's website, the board has outlined a three-year plan to get back into the black. They plan to sell property valued at $500,000 and reduce staff, which will save just over $1.3 million, most of those positions are coming from pre-K programs.

“I have 48 pre-K staff that are full-time with benefits. We can’t sustain that. We're $1.3 plus million dollars in the hole annually. I don’t know what else to do but to try to trim it back and make it work, and if we can somehow turn the corner we'll build it back,” said Superintendent Dr. Marc Slaton.

Additional cuts are coming from insurance for administration, closing the school health clinic, and additional cuts to staff. The district's website shows enrollment is down and the administration must cut staff, creating a slight uptick in student-to-teacher ratios.

The school board has said they plan no cuts to extracurricular activities or sports.

The board has hired a new chief financial officer as they try to avoid a takeover by the state board of education