Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > October > 24
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
School cuts stay in place, with wiggle room
The Dayton school board met this morning and unanimously voted to submit a five-year forecast to the state that includes deep cuts and 58 teacher layoffs in January.
But there’s still a chance the layoffs and other classroom cuts could be avoided.
Board members emphasized that Tuesday’s vote was required to submit the financial forecast to the state. The numbers in the forecast will not change, but Superintendent Percy Mack is still working on shaping the details of the budget cuts.
President Gail Littlejohn said the board asked Mack to consider moving some of the non-classroom cuts for next school year forward to January. If enough new cuts are found that way, the layoffs and classroom cuts could be pulled out of the plan. Mack said he should have final answers about whether there would be layoffs and other classroom changes within two weeks.
Other highlights of the meeting:
—There was a debate about procedures and protocol. Board member Joe Lacey began by arguing that the board, by design, is not able to vote on the cuts. This goes back a couple years to a change in the district’s budget process. The board used to approve budgets down to the specific line items for each department. Now it approves big picture numbers and allows Mack and his team to manage the line item details. Lacey prefers the prior method.
Lacey also complained about the board’s process for crafting the plan for budget cuts, which he said unfairly gave some board members special privileges. Three board members — Littlejohn, Vice President Yvonne Isaacs and finance committe chair Lee Massoud — met with Mack last Monday to review the budget cuts presentation that the full board heard Saturday.
Littlejohn and board member Mario Gallin said the meeting was proper under board rules and Littlejohn said the presentation did not change substantially from Monday to Saturday. Lacey argued the presentation did change and that it was unfair for selected board members to have extra influence guiding the budget cut process.
—Mack, Littlejohn and other board memebers placed the blame for their budget woes squarely on the Ohio legislature and complained that charter school funding unfairly hurt Dayton schools. “They’re trying to fund two public school systems out of one pot and they’re not doing a very good job of it,” Littlejohn said of lawmakers.
—Teachers’ union leaders meet with Mack this morning to discuss the budget cuts and their ongoing labor dispute. The union has given the board until Nov. 1 to make it a better offer than the no-raise deal it has presented so far or it says it will consider striking.
—The board will meet again Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. to hear a presentation on its options for a May levy. The board has told Treasurer Stan Lucas it wants more information about what types of levies it could seek and how long the levy should last.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
