Shortly after warning the community that the Duneland Schools may need to make painful cuts to counter a budget shortfall of up to $4 million next year, school officials got hit with a second round of bad financial news.

Gov. Mitch Daniels announced this week that school systems will equally share in $297 million in state funding reductions, with the cuts to begin with the January state support payments to the schools.

“This adds more insult to the injury,” Duneland Superintendent Dirk Baer said.

At the December school board meeting, Baer issued a warning to the community to brace for program and staffing cuts, due to the projection that the general fund budget adopted by the school board for 2010 will actually end up about 8 percent less. The loss has been attributed to several factors, including the county’s late tax bills that resulted in lower interest earnings, a redistribution of excise tax revenues, and the state’s funding formula for public schools that seems to favor some school systems over others.

Exactly how much Duneland will need to cut and where those cuts will be made are still unknown.

Baer said he is trying to get firm numbers regarding how much the schools will see cut from their state payments in January. Based on the initial information he’s received, Baer said it appears that the state cuts will be based on total revenues from state and local property tax sources, translating to a funding cut of up to 4.5 percent, more than what’s been reported.

Baer said he welcomes the public’s suggestions on how Duneland should react to the funding cuts, but that he does not anticipate that there will be a formal public hearing.

He said individuals with comments or suggestions may contact his office or the school board members. He noted that school board members were elected to make the very decisions that they are now being forced to make and that they are well-versed on the details of the school budget process.

He also said that building principals have asked their staff for input on possible budget savings.

Baer added that he anticipates that at least a general outline of possible program and staff cuts will be announced at the school board’s next meeting, Jan. 12.

In the meantime, he said school administrators are continuing to review options. Although “nothing is off the table,” Baer said that some of the state’s suggestions for school cuts are “easier said than done.”

For example, among the suggestions contained in a “Citizen’s Checklist” prepared by the Indiana Department of Education is for schools to outsource their custodial and transportation departments.

Baer said he has already received a number of calls from custodial employees wondering if their jobs will be outsourced. He said it’s not clear that outsourcing would actually save any money -- the school system might save in benefit expenses but the actual savings might not be known until well after a contract is in place. But he also said there are other costs to consider: As school corporation employees, local people are hired who live in, and contribute to, the local community.

Baer also took exception to the comment by Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett, who indicated that school systems should be able to make the cuts without impacting teachers.

“It’s hard for us to swallow the line” that teaching staff will not be affected, Baer said.

The contract with the Duneland Teachers Association requires that teachers announce their intent to retire by Jan. 10. Baer said the number of impending retirements will help school officials fine-tune where the schools might be able to save through attrition. But Baer added that he’s not sure that all the savings -- whatever the final number turns out to be -- can be achieved just through attrition and that some teaching positions may have to go.

“I think it will have some classroom impact,” he said.

To contact Baer’s office, email him at dirk.baer@duneland.k12.in.us. Citizens can also email school board members directly through the Duneland Schools’ webpage at www.k12.duneland.in.us by clicking on the link for “faculty and staff” and then school board members.

To contact state legislators, all 50 members of the Indiana Senate can be contacted by writing them at Indiana State Senate, 200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204-2785. Telephone numbers: (800) 382-9467 or (317) 232-9400. All 100 members of the Indiana House can be contacted by writing them at Indiana House of Representatives, 200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204-2786. Telephone numbers are (800) 382-9842 or (317) 232-9600.

The emails for local lawmakers are as follows:

State Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, S4@in.gov

State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, H3@in.gov

State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage, H10@in.gov

State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, H4@in.gov