DeKalb Schools To Layoff at Least 427 Employees
Decatur Metro | March 27, 2010How do you deal with a budget decifit without raising the millage rate on property owners? Cut. And then cut some more.
From this morning’s AJC…
The [DeKalb School Board budget] committee’s budget includes laying off 200 paraprofessionals, 150 central office employees, 59 media clerks and 18 technology specialists.
In addition to layoffs, the budget committee voted to cut another 61 paraprofessionals, 10 assistant principals and 10 counselors through attrition.
…The committee also voted to furlough teachers seven days, which is about a 3.9 percent pay cut. Administrators, secretaries and other employees will face 10 to 15 furlough days.
The committee also voted to raise class sizes by two students and cut the board’s contribution to employees’ tax-sheltered annuity.
Even with all these cuts, some think that it still won’t be enough to close the budget gap. In that case, a small tax increase might be on the horizon.
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kind of puts our debate about furloughing decatur teachers 3 days to rest. tough times indeed.
It really doesn’t put the debate to rest.
DeKalb and Decatur are apples and oranges. With Decatur’s constant home values and surplus general fund, it is in a great position not to furlough at all. CSD is choosing to add new spending items instead of putting 100% priority on paying the teachers.
Is that how the teachers feel?
The ONE teacher I talked to said she didn’t mind. She said that she realized a lot of people in the community were losing jobs (I’m one of them) and that this furlough wasn’t all that bad.
One teacher I talked to said the same. She was grateful to have a job. Another was bitter that Central Office position(s) were created when not doing so might have prevented at least some of the furloughs. She felt that, in a time of crisis, the heaviest emphasis should be placed on the needs of the students, not those of the administrators or even the teachers and staff.
The following statement is a deep worry about the viability of CSD, not an attempt to reopen political wounds: Can CSD afford the interest payments on building a new 4/5 Academy at Fifth Avenue? What impact will those payments have on the operating budget that has gotten so lean that there’s furlough days and the Calendar Committee has been asked to consider where to cut the length of the school year if it becomes necessary? I am happy that the 4/5 Academy is located at Fifth Avenue and not Renfroe and happy that the redesigned 4/5 plans are responsive to the community’s input. But things have changed financially by a quantum leap since the discussions occurred last year or even during the elections in the fall. The numbers have all changed and things are much more dire. Forget Beacon Hill, forget Westchester, forget any other options. Can we afford to build anything anywhere that incurs interest payments (or whatever they are called)? I really don’t know. I hope to be reassured. It does not comfort me to calculate that my own kids might squeak through high school before CSD collapses. There’s been too much heart and soul put into building and supporting CSD over the last 20 years to be passive about the financial threat. The community would not be the same without it.
That’s a good question. I think CSD is being cut a lot of slack because they don’t look as bad off as the surrounding counties. What I think people don’t realize is that Decatur isn’t like the other districts. The opportunity to furlough with no questions asked is helping hide the fact that CSD is not living within its means. I don’t know if teachers say anything specific, but try asking them, would you rather be paid, or use your salary to fund new positions (or loan interest)?
Is it true that administrators in CSD Central Office are not being furloughed, only teachers? This may be just a rumor but if true, it doesn’t seem right. It’s great that we’re not furloughing low paid staff like kitchen staff and paraprofessionals but anyone paid more than teachers should be furloughed too–to show leadership by example, respect for teachers, and to keep up morale. Am hoping there’s a misunderstanding behind the rumor.
Plus, if you lay off the high priced help you get to lay off fewer people overall.
Administrators were cut 5 days last year, when teachers were cut one day. This year, all employees (except the ones Karass mentioned) are being cut 3 additional days.
This is reassuring. I recommend that CSD make it clear in announcements about furloughs that ALL employees are furloughed, including administrators, except for paraprofessionals, nutrition staff, and whatever other specific groups are spared. I thought I saw something about all year employees being spared and maybe that’s why folks thought administrators were spared since many of them work all year.
I believe it was the year before last when administrators’ days were extended by 10.
i guess I should have said “this puts our debate about furloughing decatur teachers IN PERSPECTIVE” not “to rest.” (Is anything ever put to rest on decatur metro?) I don’t think decatur is in a position not to furlough teachers at all or they would have done so (as they did this school year). glad I got yall talkin’ on a quiet weekend:)
CSD is absolutely in a position not to furlough. But this is a school board that ran, and won, on a construction platform. So, that’s where the money goes.
Unfortunately, it isn’t money that they actually have. Look at their Debt service page which shows how much money they have borrowed, and how much interest they are paying until the year 2037, and you can see how much financial risk they are putting the school district in.
There was a prediction last year that construction would impact the classroom. This prediction has come true.
Hey, they always want to cut front line employees. Keep teachers and cut administrators. I doubt anyone would even notice.