Published: October 14, 2009 07:59 am      

Greater Clark looks to trim teachers

Move would increase class sizes, CFO says 45 cuts in teachers, aides may be acquired through attrition

Greater Clark County Schools is looking to reduce its teaching and assistant teaching staff by 45 positions next year.

That’s according to Frank Collesano, chief financial officer, who presented the board with his budget plan for 2010 during a Tuesday night school board meeting.

Collesano told the board that Greater Clark’s student-to-teacher ratio this year is 16.75 to 1. Last year’s was 16.3 to 1. He said the state average for this year is 17.5 to 1, and last year’s was 18.2 to 1.

Of that 45, 19 would be regular teachers. Seven of those would special education teachers and the final 19 would be special education assistants, Collesano said. He said there’s room to save money, especially in the middle schools, which utilize team scheduling, where a group of students share the same four core teachers in English, social studies, science and math.

“We’re looking at a teacher reduction, not teacher layoffs,” he said.

Collesano said he believes the cuts can be made through attrition and moving people around as their licensing allows. He said problems may occur if a teacher in a certain area that is being reduced doesn’t have a license to teach elsewhere in the school system.

These were just some of the cuts made in the budget, Collesano told the board. He said he utilized a “zero-based” budget, instead of starting with what was already in the budget and deciding what needed to be deleted or increased. He said this way he started from scratch.

He said he created an organizational list, budgets for each building and a system-wide budget, only putting in costs that were essential.

“If there was anything that wasn’t needed, it’s not there,” he said after the meeting.

Collesano said he’s not sure of what all was cut, since he wasn’t involved with the prior budget, but did say all cabinet members, such as those in charge of curriculum and transportation, were involved to make sure the necessities weren’t left out.

He said the move was imperative, because if the district took its last budget and made incremental increases where needed, such as with salaries, it would have a $2.3 million deficit moving forward.

The board will vote on the approximately $73.5 million general fund budget — which pays mostly for salaries and includes the teacher reductions — at a future meeting.



FUNDING APPROVED

The board did approve the bus-replacement plan and capital projects fund budgets Tuesday. The first includes replacing at least eight buses next year, all of which are 19 to 20 years old, Collesano said. The capital project budget includes a number of projects, such as new carpet for all of River Valley Middle School, new roofs for six buildings, construction of concession and restrooms at New Washington Middle/High School and other projects.

The capital projects budget totals $11,226,173. The bus replacement budget is $1,934,000. The board held public hearings on those two plans, but no one from the public spoke. The board also received comments during its work session earlier in the evening.



IN OTHER BUSINESS

• The board approved a contract with Robbie Valentine Enterprises’ Stars Club, which is run by school board Secretary Robbie Valentine. The recommendation to the board said the program, which works to instill confidence and positive character traits, has been in the district since 1998.

Stars Club is to provide physical activities and tutoring, as well as follow students’ academic progress and school attendance, as part of the contract, according to the recommendation. It meets at River Valley on Fridays and Parkview Middle School on Saturdays.

The one-year agreement totaled $15,000. As part of that, the club is to serve more than 200 students. The vote on the contract was 5-1-1, with board member Becka Christensen voting against it and Valentine abstaining.

• The board unanimously approved a contract with Jennifer Wilcox Consulting, an organization which will serve as a grant writer. Wilcox’s company is to research grants, prepare materials and follow up on applications. The consulting firm will be paid $1,500 per month for 40 hours of work, according to the recommendation. The term of the contract is through March; however, it can be extended for a mutually agreed upon timeframe.

• The board unanimously approved a contract with 1st Hour Communications.

The school district will provide the company with information to send out to the community and staff and the company will format it and sent it either by mail or e-mail. The e-mail updates will go out monthly and the printed ones will go our quarterly, according to the recommendation.

The service is free, since the company affixes advertisements to the e-mails and newsletters. Those advertisements are to be “family friendly” and are subject to approval by Greater Clark, according to the recommendation.

• The one-to-one laptop policy was approved at the meeting. That policy includes details on what’s acceptable use for the computer program at Charlestown High and Middle schools, where students are offered laptops.

Amy Schellenberg, executive director for professional development and curriculum, announced that the extra insurance for parents to pay is $60 for the year, which includes a $100 deductible. That covers stolen or damaged laptops.

Those not paying for insurance can become “day users,” where students turn in the laptops at the end of each school day.