news-record.com

WINSTON-SALEM (MCT) — Winston-Salem State University is laying off 16 people and eliminating 30 vacant positions as part of a restructuring plan that will cut between $7 million and $9 million from its current budget, school officials said Monday.

Eight of the 16 people who will be laid off work at the Child Development Center and Laboratory School, which will close Aug. 21. The center, which opened in 1975, provides day care and has been a training ground for students interested in teaching and nursing. It accepted children from ages 3 to about 5.

The university will also lay off people from various departments, but no faculty positions will be affected. Jobs will be cut from admissions, the provost's office, information resources, the budget office and the evening weekend college program, said Nancy Young, the interim director of public and media relations for the university.

Most of the layoffs were effective yesterday, she said.

Donald Reaves, the university chancellor, said in a news release that school officials had to make the cuts to deal with the economic downturn, which is affecting state funding for the UNC system. The current budget for WSSU is $91 million, Young said.

''Eliminating positions is never easy," he said. "These decisions are extremely difficult because they affect our employees, the university family and the community. Yet we believe we have no choice at this time but to take the steps necessary to ensure the future of our students and WSSU."

In addition to the budget crunch, Winston-Salem State is facing extra expenses as it moves toward becoming a Division I school. Last month, Reaves spoke at an open forum with alumni, students and the community. He estimated that the university would need at least $3 million of additional revenue to make the transition.

Twenty-one employees will either be reassigned or be part of different academic groups as part of the restructuring plan.

For example, some employees in the School of Graduate Studies and Research will be reassigned to enrollment management.

The biggest change will be the closing of the Child Development Center and Laboratory School.

Parents who use the center will receive a tuition reduction for the remaining time that the center is open and will get information about other options for their children.

Reaves said the school simply did not have enough money to keep the center open.

''Our current budget will not allow us to spend money on the center when there are other alternatives available in the community for our students," Reaves said in the news release.

Reaves also said that Winston-Salem State will increase efforts to help freshmen and provide more money for campus safety and fundraising, especially for undergraduate scholarships.

Young said that the university will provide more mentors to freshmen as well as students who can help them with academic work.

She said university officials are still waiting for state legislators to pass a final budget. The priority, she said, is maintaining the academic integrity of the university.

''We certainly don't want to do anything that's not going to be in the best interests of our students," Young said.