Ludlow to leave watch list

Spending cuts, savings revive financial health

LUDLOW - The 2007-08 school year will be one of big changes for Ludlow Independent Schools.

Several jobs have been eliminated. Some class sizes will be larger. The middle school will no longer be its own entity.

But those changes are expected to remove the district from the state's financial watch list in September.

"There's no doubt we're coming off the list," Superintendent Curtis Hall said. "It wasn't easy. It hurt. But if we didn't take care of business, it would have been taken care of for us."

Ludlow, a district of about 920 students in grades P-12, was one of seven districts put on financial watch last summer by the Kentucky Department of Education when the district's contingency fund dropped below 2 percent of its annual budget.

State law requires every district to maintain the fund for emergency purposes.

Ludlow carried over about $117,000, or roughly 1.8 percent of its $6.7 million budget, into the 2006-07 school year. By October 2006, that amount had dwindled to $10,589...

...The district also eliminated 24 other positions at the end of the school year, including teachers, instructional assistants, district staff and a librarian. Some retired and were not replaced.

Others were not offered new contracts. Hall said teacher positions that were eliminated (three elementary school, three middle school and five high school) were based on seniority, allowing the district to maintain a veteran staff.

The reductions mean student-to-teacher ratios in classes will go from about 17-to-1 to about 22-to-1, on average. Ludlow has been meeting or exceeding its state assessment goals year after year...

This from the Cincinnati Enquirer.