KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Knox County school officials are trying to cut about $19 million from the school system’s budget, and so far they are about $1 million short.

So far they’ve made administrative cuts. To finish closing the gap, the school system notified 17 high school faculty members and 13 middle school faculty members on Wednesday that their positions will likely be eliminated after the school year.

"We've looked very deeply at central office and made reductions there,” said Dr. Jim McIntyre, superintendent of Knox County Schools. “Unfortunately in this economic climate, while we are trying to keep the reductions and the impact of the reductions as far away from the classroom as we can, it has to be at least a small part of the solution right now."

The school system has also reportedly been in negotiations with the Knox County Education Association to save the 30 positions. To do so, they would have to ask teachers to give up their annual step raise. Step raises are awarded at the beginning of the school year and employees typically receive them only if they have worked at least 100 days of their previous year’s contract.

According to McIntyre, the school system plans to present a balanced budget to the school board at their April 7th meeting.

School board members will also use the meeting to vote on whether to approve opening a non-traditional school inside Knoxville Center Mall.

Wednesday evening’s forum at Knoxville Central High School was called to talk specifically about the proposal.

Knox County has been talking with the Simon Youth Foundation for several months about creating an Educational Resource Center in the Knoxville Center Mall.

The foundation is run by the company that owns the mall.

Simon ERCs are alternative schools, meant to provide at-risk youth the opportunity to earn their high school diploma in a non-traditional environment. It is designed for students who are on track to graduating but simply aren’t succeeding at their normal high school.

Under the plan, the school would be located in two currently vacant retail spaces with direct access to the parking lot. The units would take up 6,400 square feet of space near the Knoxville Police Department and provide room for five classrooms, an independent study area, conference room and teacher offices.

The foundation would pay for the space and Knox County would spend about $75,000 converting it for learning. The schools would also pay utilities at a discount rate.

According to McIntyre, it would be staffed by faculty members currently teaching in the adult education program at the Historic Knoxville High School on Fifth Avenue.

If approved, the application process through the foundation is expected to take another few weeks. It would then open as soon as August 2010.