Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Sunday, October 22, 2006
Teacher layoffs, sports part of $8.3M in cuts
By Scott Elliott
Staff Writer
Dayton school leaders Saturday proposed $8.3 million in cuts that could come in January, including 58 teacher layoffs, as part of a plan to head off a budget deficit next year.
School board members said this month they will seek a levy in May. In a special Saturday meeting, Treasurer Stan Lucas estimated that the levy will be for 9.75 mills, which would raise $14.3 million annually. The board still has to decide what type of levy to seek.
Meanwhile, the board must submit a five-year forecast to the state this week, and that forecast spells out a worst-case scenario if the levy doesn’t pass.
The school board expects to vote Tuesday on the full plan, which would include even deeper cuts next year such as closing three schools and cutting 141 teachers as part of $18 million more in reductions. And that’s not the end of it. Administrators said they will still need to find $12 million more next year to stave off a deficit.
“This is not a pretty picture,” Superintendent Percy Mack said.
The proposed cuts for this school year amount to 3.6 percent of the district’s $225 million budget. For next year, a 14.6 percent cut would be needed to avoid a deficit.
School board President Gail Littlejohn said when she joined the board in 2001 school officials were projecting a levy by 2005. She said the district instead reduced administrative spending and focused spending on academic reforms.
“We did make a conscious decision to take every penny we could find and put it behind reform,” she said. “We knew it would cost a chunk of money and it did. We are now spending down our reserves at a pretty fast clip. But we knew this day was coming.”
The financial crunch will force some hard choices.
The district, which has not sought a tax levy since 1992, began spending its $45 million reserve this year and the school board had hoped to delay a levy until 2008. But financial losses accelerated when the district lost a dispute over charter school enrollment. School leaders said a 9.75 mill levy was likely in May.
About $5,500 in state money is re-routed from the district for each student who enrolls in a charter school. Dayton and other cities had negotiated a deal with the state to reduce the amount taken for charters after a dispute over how those kids were counted.
But in May, Ohio legislature wrote a new rule making the state education department the final arbiter of financial disputes, and the department backed out of the deal. Cincinnati schools are suing the state over that dispute.
School officials said while they hope to still get settlement money if Cincinnati wins the suit, they must plan as if no new money will come from the suit or a new levy.
If a May levy fails, cut for next school year are even deeper than those considered for this year. Superintendent Percy Mack and his staff offered these explanations on those cuts:
School closings and job cuts: About 80 percent of the district’s budget is personnel. The only way to save significant money is to reduce personnel, school leaders said.
With 13 new, bigger schools opening this school year and next, the district would seek to consolidate more quickly. Class size would grow to 25 from 20 and 22 at early elementary grades. At high school, fewer electives would allow for fewer teachers. Adjunct staff members to teach private music lessons at Stivers and Colonel White high schools would be curtailed.
Nurses, and music or language programs may be cut, although board members Saturday said they hoped to maintain some of them. Principals would be asked to do more with less support. Montessori instruction would be offered at one site — Franklin Elementary School — instead of three.
Athletics: Teams with low participation that don’t generate revenue through ticket sales would be eliminated. A $50 fee would be instituted to play on the remaining teams.
Maintenance: Strategies to reduce staff include mowing grass less often, sticking to the basics for cleaning.
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