School board plans to close elementary school.

ONTONAGON -- After a bond proposal that would have moved Ontonagon elementary students into the high school failed last year, school administrators are trying it again.  But this time, they're not going to the public.

The school board has put into a motion a plan, requiring no bond money, to move elementary students into the junior-senior high school.

"Ultimately there is no way of sustaining as much campus as we have, and at the same time keep our programs healthy for our children," said Superintendent Gray Webber.

Webber said his district has just become the largest district, geographically, in the state after officially acquiring the White Pine School District in March.

In the 2003-04 school year, when White Pine students started to come to Ontonagon, the head count was 618.  Now there's only 520 students.  That declining enrollment means less funding from the state.  Ontonagon expects to lose $220,000 from state funding next year.

By closing the elementary school, administrators say the district will save $190,000 a year.

"A small portion of the savings from moving to a single campus will be utilized for a mortgage to improve and renovate the existing junior-senior high campus," Webber said.

This move, school officials say, will definitely be necessary this time if layoffs at Smurfit-Stone become permanent.

"When I think about it, I think about all the students we might lose,” said teacher and parent Melissa Santini.  “Many, many of their parents are employed at the mill and they don't know what's going to happen, and I'm sure the students are worried; some of them are talking about moving."

The school board hopes to have the elementary students moved into the junior-senior high school by the 2010-11 school year.

Ontonagon isn't the only school district facing money problems.  That's why next week we'll bring you our series on Saving Our Schools.  It starts Tuesday on your TV6 Early News.