A budget update and another round of teacher retirements are expected to be presented Monday at the Duneland School Board meeting.

The school board will meet at 6 p.m. in the Administration Center, 601 W. Morgan Ave.

The school corporation is in the midst of having to make about $1.6 million in budget cuts stemming from state funding reductions that took effect at the start of this year. Duneland expects to achieve the cuts in large part through a combination of attrition and by hiring teachers on the low-end of the pay scale to replace retiring veteran teachers.

At the last school board meeting, the school board approved the retirements of 16 teachers. At least 14 additional teachers have since submitted their retirements, Duneland Superintendent Dirk Baer said earlier this week.

Baer said it is still his and the board’s intention not to eliminate any academic program. So if a retiring teacher is the only one who teachers a particular subject matter, Baer said Duneland will seek to keep the position intact either by hiring new or by seeing if other current teachers hold the same type of license.

The school board is giving qualified teachers an incentive to retire early by offering a one-time payment to their health coverage accounts. The incentive at first was for $15,000 but Duneland agreed to boost that to $22,500 per teacher if at least 20 teachers signed up. With the most recent round of teacher retirements expected to be presented Monday, the higher payment will now kick in.

The school board will also discuss summer school fees, which are expected to increase due to the budget cuts. Other items on the school board agenda include a report on the Liberty Elementary School construction project and a presentation by LES.

Posted 2/26/2010