Portage Public Schools approves cuts

PORTAGE, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - A local school system needs to cut a lot of money, and that means cutting jobs.

Monday night, the Portage Public School board debated on whether or not to cut more than a million dollars from the budget. Even before the meeting started, a group of custodians was protesting outside the administration building.

The custodians were protesting because a budget proposal calls for privatizing their work to save hundreds of thousands of dollars. 23 custodians face layoffs under the plan, while another proposal would eliminate seven teachers.

Budget cuts are taking a toll on Portage schools, the first to face the guillotine are 23 night custodians and 18 outsourced custodians who are slated to be replaced by Grand Rapids Building Associates, a move that Portage Schools says will save them $600,000 in the first year.

Many who turned out for Monday night's meeting say the actual savings would be paltry or non-existence and feel there may be another motive.

"Union busting, union busting. They want to break every union that there is, not just here, all the way across," said Jeff Plunket, president of the local MEA Union.

The next hot button topic on the budget is $106,000 to be saved by reducing bus routes and expanding walking zones around nine Portage schools, including Amberly, Lake Center, 12^th Street and Woodland Elementary, as well as Central Middle, Central High, North Middle, North High, and West Middle, a cut that a number of parents feel will endanger children.

"You're talking about kids four foot tall walking to school in the pitch dark, almost a mile and a half," said Sherry Curtis.

Receiving little attention on Monday were five faculty positions to be cut and two others reduced to save nearly $400,000.

Even with these cuts, which are expected to save $1.1 million, the school district still needs to borrow $700,000 from its general fund just to make ends meet in the next school year.