The Mercer County School District approved eliminating 25 positions in a cost-saving measure at a special school board meeting on Tuesday.
The Mercer County School District Board of Education voted unanimously to approve the cuts after going into closed session for nearly an hour.
Eight certified teaching positions were eliminated at the meeting. Apollo Elementary School in Aledo is losing a second-grade teacher, a special education teacher, and its special education coordinator. At New Boston Elementary School, a fifth-grade teacher, an art teacher, and a guidance counselor were cut. Cuts at Mercer County High School included a math teacher, an English teacher, and an ag teacher.
The district is also eliminating 11 paraprofessional positions, four custodial positions, a nurse, and a food service worker.
Mercer County School District Interim Superintendent Alan Boucher says the cuts will save nearly $1.3 million, as the district faces a $1.7 million deficit in its education fund.
Boucher added that if the cuts weren’t made, he forecasts the school district would have run out of money to pay its employees by the middle of next school year.
The positions will be eliminated at the end of the school year.
Thirteen people spoke in opposition to the cuts as part of the public comment portion of the meeting, which lasted for more than an hour. People speaking included staff whose positions were being eliminated, parents of students in the school district, and a current student at Apollo Elementary School.