Dist. 300 cuts 27 more positions; 51 may be called back

The first action was likened to an ax, the second, a scalpel.

Almost a month after laying off more than 150 first- and second-year teachers, the Community Unit District 300 school board dismissed another 27 third- and fourth-year teachers Monday night.

The layoffs accomplish several aims: They enable the district to meet a state-mandated deadline by which it must notify teachers they will be dismissed; they allow the district to work toward balancing its 2010-11 budget; and they ensure the district is not overstaffed next year.

While the teacher layoffs - 180 in total to date - will pose challenges for the district's class sizes and leave many young teachers without a job, there are a couple of bright spots.

One, because of the state's notification deadline and concerns about ballooning classes, the district is almost certainly done releasing teachers this year. Secondly, the district anticipates it will call back about 51 teachers, resulting in a net reduction of 128 teachers next year.

Unfortunately, though, Monday's reductions were by no means the final word on District 300's 2010-11 budget. Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Crates estimated Monday the district had cut only about $10 million of the $15 million officials aim to slash.

Here are the areas where the district can make up the difference:

• The board is set to vote on cuts to transportation, including busing for the dual-language program and parochial students, later this month.

• Officials are still working on a plan to cut compensation for administrators, mainly through furlough days and increased health insurance contributions.

• The district is reviewing its existing bus routes, aiming to eliminate bus service that is not required by law, board President Joe Stevens said.

• District leaders are wrapping up negotiations with the district's unions, hoping to realize millions more in savings - although disagreement over a crucial issue may cost the district $2.5 million.

Although the state's deadline essentially forced the board to hastily act on the recent rounds of reductions, board members took a step back at Monday's meeting, blaming the state for the district's crisis and voting unanimously to create a task force that would advise the board on future reductions.

Board member John Ryan proposed the task force as a way to generate more creative solutions to the fiscal dilemma.

While still considerable, the number of teachers released Monday was much less than the roughly 150 third- and fourth-year teachers district officials had contemplated laying off in recent weeks, according to officials.

"The class sizes would just get unbelievably high," Stevens said.

Because of the earlier round of layoffs, a district staffing committee has already predicted many classrooms will have more than 30 students next year, with some advanced high school class sizes climbing above 40 students.

Layoffs: District creating task force to advice on future reductions