Officials with Greater Clark County Schools will study the benefits of reducing staff and other ways to increase revenue over the next few months.Superintendent Andrew Melin told the school board Tuesday night that the district will be nearly $2.5 million short next year.Staff salaries and benefits make up nearly 92 percent of the district’s general fund, he said, and district leaders will spend the next three to six months studying which jobs might be eliminated to save money.“We’re going to take every job classification and break it down and analyze and to see what we can do in order to help us reduce our expenditures,” he said.If the district decides to cut staff, Melin would like to do so through attrition, he said.“Because we care about our people and we need to be compassionate in regard to that. We want to keep our people working to the greatest extent that we can,” Melin said.The district will also be considering new revenue streams to make up for the loss of state funding and a loss of revenue caused by the county’s property tax caps.The board approved Tuesday to use American Express to pay the bills, which will then give 1.11 percent back to the district, said Melin.“That could realize tens of thousands of dollars in additional revenue,” he said.The board will approve a budget in October, but Melin said adjustments could be made through early next year.
