The Kenosha Unified School District lifted its hiring freeze but will eliminate nearly 30 open teacher positions next year as it grapples with a multimillion dollar deficit.

Class sizes won’t be affected by the move, which includes eliminating and streamlining some administrative positions at the Educational Support Center, said superintendent Joe Mangi.

Officials said the moves will help eliminate some of the $5.4 million deficit created by a cut in state aid, and the district will use some remaining stimulus money to plug other budget holes so taxes aren’t substantially raised.

“Our priority has always been our classroom teachers. They are the backbone of the district,” Mangi said. “Our intention is to fill all the open positions and we will continue to look at filling support positions as they open up.”

He said the 30 cut positions — most of which are open teacher slots — aren’t necessary because of shifts in enrollment from elementary, middle and high school, and will save about $2 million.

Mangi said the district received guidance from the Department of Public Instruction, and was told Kenosha Unified can use some of the stimulus money originally geared strictly toward Title I and special education once all those needs are met, to cover the rest of the deficit.

Bill Johnston, the district finance director, said the district could legally have been allowed to tax to make up the rest of the $3.4 million, but didn’t want to go that route.

“We have chosen not to do that and worked hard not to do that,” he said.

Mangi added: “Our goal up front has been to maintain our student-teacher ratio without any major increases or hardships to the community that has been hit by the economy.”

Johnston’s initial estimates showed the school district might have as much as a $9.2 million deficit after Gov. Jim Doyle announced a cut of nearly 2.5 percent in state aid. But because of a change in the funding formula, Kenosha Unified School District will get more dollars than originally planned.

Pam Stevens, the School Board president, has said the district will continue to plan next year for further budget cuts so there aren’t any surprises.

“Cutting programs is always the worst-case scenario and laying off teachers is the second worst,” she said. “We want to avoid that if at all possible.”