Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Thursday, November 9, 2006
Littlejohn and Lynch talk money
Here’s what Pat Lynch, president of the Dayton teachers union, said Wednesday when I asked her for her view on the state of the school district’s finances:
“I disagree with a lot of the ways the board has spent money the last few years, but I know and believe the bulk of the problem is state funding,” she said.
In reply to a similar question Wednesday, Gail Littlejohn, president of the Dayton school board, noted the district has gone nearly 15 years without an operating levy:
“I think we waited too long. We probably should have had a levy in 1997 or 1998,” she said. “State funding is an issue for everyone and its the real source of the frustration.”
There’s more.
Given the disrict’s money woes, I asked Lynch what steps the board should be taking to find money for a raise for teachers and to avoid cuts and layoffs come January:
“We need to see (cuts) in the administration instead. I think there are a lot of folks we could lose there and not feel it,” she said. “The only administrative cuts proposed for this year were people who will retire in June anyway,”
I told Lynch’s view to Littlejohn. Here’s her reply:
“Those are valid arguments,” she said. “We have to have discussions where we say there are no sacred cows. And there are none. Our eyes are on every position in the district.”
In other comments of interest from these two key players in Dayton’s labor dispute, Lynch addressed the anger many of her members feel and Littlejohn explained the reason for the way the rejected contract proposal was crafted.
Lynch said teachers have been through crises like this before and many feel they’ve been burned before.
“The big issue with members is there is a lot of mistrust,” she said. “There are people here with a lot of history and memory.”
Littlejohn said the reason the board proposed a one-time payout rather than a traditional 1 percent raise is concern about next year’s budget.
“We can’t ratify any contract unless we know we have the money to pay for it,” she said. “We have to know we have the money to operate next year. That’s why we have the provision there to reopen discussion next year on wages and benefits.”
Even so, Littlejohn said there may be a way to create wiggle room that would allow for a traditional raise.
“There may be some flexibility there,” she said.
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Cuts, layoff details by Thanksgiving
There was a ton of education news yesterday and limited space in the jam-packed post-election Dayton Daily News. So I’ll try to post some of of the news that didn’t make it into this morning’s paper here today.
The most important news that was in my story for today but later cut out for space was a promise from both Percy Mack and Gail Littlejohn that whatever cuts are coming in January would be detailed no later than the week that schools break for Thanksgiving.
“I don’t want people going into the holidays not knowing if they have a job or not,” Littlejohn said.
This pushes back the timeline that Superintendent Percy Mack established on Oct. 25 when I quoted him saying administrators would have a revised cost-cutting plan in about two weeks, which would be right about now. The new deadline essentially gives administrators another two weeks.
Board President Gail Littlejohn reiterated to me that the board had something of a “eureka” moment during its Oct. 21 meeting when the plan for cuts was first detailed. That plan was crafted by administrators who were told to start with the assumption that all areas of district operations needed to find about 11 percent in cost reductions that could be implemented in January and then deeper cuts for the next school year.
Because academic programs are by far the largest portion of the budget, the cuts there were pretty painful, including eliminating teacher jobs, high school electives and sports teams. Toward the end of that first meeting, board members began asking about deep non-academic cuts that were in the plan for next year, such as job reductions in grounds, maintenance, food service and transportation. Some of these cuts would really affect service, like delaying maintenance response time for repairs and reducing mowing significantly.
Still, the board asked, could some of those cuts be moved forward to January to reduce some of the academic cuts?
Littlejohn said Wednesday that administrators are working to answer that question, trying to bring non-academic cuts forward to January wherever possible and practical and then trying to decide what academic cuts are highest priority to restore.
So that’s the latest from the board’s side on the January budget cuts. I’m certain teachers will be quick to point out that Mack’s first deadline for revising the cuts coincided with Wednesday’s contract vote by the teachers and now the new deadline pushes a decision back for two more weeks just as contract talks are about to resume.
I’ll have more on the labor talks and the district’s budget later today.
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