Teacher's union asks District 207 to spare jobs, use reserves instead

With 75 of its teachers facing the ax, the Maine Teacher's Association is asking District 207 to spare jobs and use reserves to plug a projected $19 million deficit next year.

The district's superintendent replied that over a three-year period, the reserve is being cut about $30 million and a further reduction would be irresponsible.

Maine Township High School District 207's administration this week recommended $15 million in cuts, which includes eliminating 137 jobs districtwide from the 2010-2011 academic year budget.

The 75 largely nontenured, certified teachers were notified Tuesday their positions have been recommended for elimination at the end of this school year - saving the district $5 million.

English, science, special education, physical education, applied arts and technology and mathematics departments at the district's three high schools stand to lose the most teachers.

"I'm disappointed," said Greg Lundberg, an English teacher at Maine East High School in Park Ridge. "They are moving our class (size) cap up from 22 to 28 (students). We think that it is hitting the English teachers disproportionately."

If layoffs are approved, the district will go from roughly 980 employees this school year to 843 employees in 2010. Aside from teachers, safety monitors, secretarial/clerical staff, teaching assistants and custodial/maintenance staff were hardest hit.

District officials blame the deficit on a flat Consumer Price Index, the measure used by the government to determine the property tax levy each year. In the past, districts have seen a 3 percent to 5 percent growth in the index and they approved union contracts in expectation of similar future increases.

Union spokesman Clint Poskozim, a Maine South High School history/social science teacher, said the district has built up reserves over the years for exactly this kind of situation.

"The district has a rainy-day fund of nearly $100 million, which is something that can be used to get us through these difficult economic times, instead of sacrificing the educational quality of the schools," Poskozim said. "The steps that the board is taking seem only to consider one option as opposed to these other options that are available."

The union itself is facing criticism for its decision in December not to reopen the contract. The District 207 administration asked the union to forego a roughly 3.2 percent wage increase in 2010 and a 3.5 percent increase in 2011, which could have saved up to 55 jobs. Most teachers also get annual step increases based on years of service.

Poskozim said while reopening the teacher's contract is off the table, he believes the district should have fewer administrators.

Seven administrator jobs were cut as part of the 137 layoffs. Compared to other school districts in the area, District 207 has a low student to administrator ratio of 120, Poskozim said.

"It would have less of an impact on students directly," he said.

A year ago, the district had a $100 million cash balance, roughly 90 percent of its annual operating budget of $112 million, but District 207 Superintendent Ken Wallace said the fund is depleting rapidly.

The district's leaders learned last July - weeks after Superintendent Joel Morris and Assistant Superintendent for Business Pamela Schau retired - that a projected deficit of $3.8 million for the 2008-2009 fiscal year was $10.3 million due to an accounting error. The current school year's deficit is projected to be $12 million.

"We are using the reserves" to cover the $22 million, Wallace said. "Even with these cuts, we will be projected to run a deficit somewhere between $4 million and $8 million next year."

Wallace said the union's suggestion to use reserves to plug the deficit entirely is "not a responsible course of action."

He said the district needs a reserve of at least $55 million.

"It has to do with how Cook County distributes its property tax (revenues)," Wallace said. "We have two payments, six months apart. You need a minimum of 50 percent cash on hand to meet your daily, monthly expenses. Districts that don't have an available cash balance have to do short-term borrowing to meet those expenses."

Layoffs and other cuts won't be finalized until after public input at a Jan. 20 school board committee of the whole meeting at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Maine East High School, 2601 Dempster St., Park Ridge. The school board is expected to approve cuts at its Feb. 1 meeting.

Some tenured teachers won't know until March whether they will be laid off. That's because a number of tenured teachers are job sharing or on a leave of absence and if they choose to return to full-time employment, they may displace other tenured teachers.