Christopher Peak Photos
School board members discuss what’s on the table.
The Board of Education’s first conversation about where to cut $10 million showed just how painful it will be to balance next year’s budget without a city bailout, leading one board member to say he felt “disgusted” at some proposed cuts.
Meanwhile, a school official sought to prevent reporters from allowing students to weigh in on potential school closings.
As the board contemplates a 5.1 percent reduction in expenditures to make up for declining state support and expiring federal grants, Will Clark, the district’s chief operating officer, suggested 16 across-the-board cutbacks, such as eliminating dozens of teachers, closing a school and reducing bus routes. If the board approved the entire package, created with feedback from department directors and school principals, Clark said the district could save $13.1 million that way.
Based on the reaction from members at the Board of Education Finance & Operations Committee meeting held Tuesday evening in a noisy cafeteria at Hill Regional Career High School, certain line items will likely be spared.
The Board of Education committed to submitting revised figures to the mayor before March 1, meaning the members could vote at their regular meeting at Celentano School on Monday or schedule a special meeting later in the week. In whatever plan they submit, they can still ask for a full $10 million from the city, knowing they might not get it.
In his preliminary draft, Clark gave a target dollar figure that the district could save from each line item. He didn’t include many details about how to get there, leaving the exact plan up to employees if the board gives the go-ahead. Pressed by board members Tamiko Jackson-McArthur and Jamell Cotto for more information about which staff would be affected by cuts, Clark demurred.
“Specifically, I don’t want to name them here,” he said. “I don’t want to talk behind anyone’s back, but this will be reviewed as we get information from each school.” He said he’d provide information about classroom sizes before the next board meeting.
Here’s the rough plan, as presented to the committee:
- Eliminate 10 administrators: $1,250,000
- Eliminate 55 teachers: $3,300,000
- Eliminate 5 clerical staff: $175,000
- Eliminate 25 paraprofessionals: $550,000
- Reduce part-time staff: $500,000
- Consolidate student support staff: $500,000
- Switch to LED lights and Internet-enabled phones: $400,000
- Cut back on energy costs: $250,000
- Close a school: $2,500,000
- Combine alternative education: $850,000
- Eliminate non-core bus routes: $750,000
- Charge more for permits, restrict other building use: $200,000
- Maximize magnet school enrollment to cap: $1,096,380
- Eliminate athletic programs at Creed: $300,000
- Eliminate Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), Project Pride’s physical education, Talented and Gifted (TAG): $350,000
- Hire a second shift of security guards to cut overtime: $100,000
For personnel, Clark said the school district would try to “right-size” the staff through attrition, rather than layoffs. Usually, that will mean not hiring for a vacancy, unless it’s in a shortage area, like math and science, special education or English as a second language, Clark said.
According to the personnel reports submitted to the school board over the past three months, the superintendent has already been notified that four administrators, 26 teachers, eight paraprofessionals, 12 non-instructional staff and one coach won’t be returning next year.
Do Press, Students Have Rights?
A crowd of teachers and staff hear about the proposed cuts.
Clark also declined to name a school that could be closed, saying he’d leave that up to a working group that has been assembled. “There’s a lot of trepidation and concern out there,” he said. He added that a reporter showed up at a school last week to talk to students about a closure. “We should not allow that to happen,” Clark said.
But Darnell Goldson, the board president, said they needed to stop “dancing around the issue” and get specific. “The press are going to talk to the kids. Parents are talking, everybody is talking about schools, one of which is not located in the city,” he said, referring to Creed, which has been in temporary quarters in North Haven for five years. “It’s time to address the issue.”
Jackson-McArthur and other board members said they felt uncomfortable keeping other programs on the chopping block. “I’m totally against cutting sports and ROTC,” she said. “I don’t want to cut community services that impact children or teachers that impact kids. Cutting sports, that made my stomach hurt. ROTC and TAG, oh no, we’re not touching that.”
Frank Redente, the committee chair, agreed. He made a motion to remove ROTC and TAG from the list. Cotto seconded it, saying “It should never have been on this list.”
Jamell Cotto (at left in photo): “Disgusted” by suggestion of cutting ROTC.
That opened up a discussion about the board’s willingness to make cuts. “Shouldn’t we have more information before we do any of that?” Goldson asked. “Everything [on this list] is nice. Putting kids on a bus so they don’t walk from their house is nice. But we can’t be nice anymore. I need more information before I take anything off the table.” Removing just one item is “unfair to every other employee, the paraprofessionals, teachers and part-time staff,” he added.
The board didn’t take a vote on Redente’s motion, but Cotto said he was “disgusted” that Clark had proposed cutting only $750,000 from the $24.8 million transportation budget, while making a much deeper cut relative to ROTC’s size.
Tamiko Jackson-McArthur (at right in photo): Oh no, not these programs.
Jackson-McArthur suggested that the district try to find more money by negotiating with First Student, the Cincinnati-based bus company whose contract is up for renewal this year, or finding a new contractor altogether.
“Why not test the market and put out to bid?” Goldson added. “What happened five years ago doesn’t measure what happened now.”
But Clark protested that starting the procurement process all over again might jack up prices. Five years ago, when the contract was signed, First Student’s smaller competitors asked for at least three percent more, he said, and they wanted higher increases for each renewal.
Instead, he suggested figuring out ways to reduce bus lines, rather than find a new operator. “To bus less would cost less,” he said. “There’s no question about it.”
Whatever route they decide on, the school board will have to take decisive action before the month’s end. “Something has to go,” Reggie Mayo, the interim superintendent, said as he left the meeting.
Close 2 schools $5 million.
Eliminate 20 administrators $2,500,000.
Eliminate 25 teachers $1,500,000; don't fire any, but don't replace the first 25 that retire or move to other towns.
Use the remaining options to find the other $1 million.
How come the poll includes the option to cut teachers, but doesn't include the option to cut administrators?