NORWAY, Mich. (WZMQ) – Due to a significant deficit, the Norway-Vulcan School District’s Board of Education voted unanimously to eliminate a position called math interventionalist, a position that works with teachers to increase proficiency in math skills. Norway-Vulcan School’s Superintendent Louis Steigerwald says the district has been operating in the red for many years.
“The school’s finances are such that we’ve been spending down our fund balance in quite considerable amounts, well over several $100,000 dollars probably this year,” said Steigerwald.
The concern is that math scores will fall due to the elimination of this position. However, Steigerwald believes his remaining teachers have the skills to prevent that from happening.
“We think we’ve got quality math people on board, you know, and we hope the kids do well, of course,” said Steigerwald.
At a recent meeting, the school board provided a budget forecast, which included an estimated deficit reaching over half a million dollars for the 2025 26 fiscal year.
“If the board doesn’t do something about that sort of spending, we’ll be out of fund equity within two or three years,” said Steigerwald.
Steigerwald says staffing cuts are just one way to save money. He believes that other savings must be found.
“We also have some other ideas that we think will either bring in revenue or save us money. You’ve got to stop the bleeding, and when you’re bleeding fund equity in $100,000 chunks, you’ve got to do something,” exclaimed Steigerwald.
The Norway-Vulcan school district will have a clearer view of the exact deficit numbers after the state education budget is released in late June.