Albert Gallatin Area board votes to cut dozens of positions for next school year

The Albert Gallatin Area school board has voted to cut dozens of positions within the district for the next school year.

The board held a meeting Wednesday night, ultimately voting to eliminate 26 positions for the 2026-27 school year. 

The positions being cut include teachers, support staff, and administrative roles.

Albert Gallatin Area Superintendent Christopher Pegg said the cuts were made because the district has been struggling for years with a continued declining enrollment.

Mr. Pegg said that the district has lost "well over" 1,000 students in the last 10 to 20 years.

"You can only save money so many ways and unfortunately, it's coming down to an economic furlough as well as for declining enrollment," Mr. Pegg said. "Because our preliminary budget, we were $6.3 million deficit, short. After this fiscal year, we would only have $5.1 million in our fund balance, and it's dangerous to keep using fund balance."  

Mr. Pegg said that with the deficit looming over the district and the danger of not being able to pass a balanced budget, the cuts were necessary.

The position cuts are estimated to save the district around $3 million. 

A parent in attendance at the meeting said that her main concern surrounding the cuts focuses on class size and making sure that the kids are getting the education they need.

"The more kids that are in a classroom, it's just going to be harder for teachers to take control of all of the children in that classroom," Katie Helwig said.