Schools could see 90 layoffs

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Due to low state funding, the Calvert County school system may need to cut 80 teachers and 10 instructional assistants for the 2010 fiscal year.

Superintendent Jack Smith revealed this possibility last Thursday night when he presented the balanced budget to the Calvert County Board of Education.

He said that the budget was also balanced with the projection that 35 positions will be reduced due to attrition, and stressed that he is hoping to keep the 90 combined positions through salary negotiations with the Calvert Education Association and the Calvert Association of Education Support Staff.

"It is absolutely … critical that we add back these 80 teaching positions as well as the 10 support staff positions," Smith said at the hearing, referring to Calvert County as "one of the school systems that is best known for teaching and learning in the state of Maryland."

"We are getting an increase of funding from the state of Maryland but not as much as in the past," he said.

Smith also confirmed to the board and to the individuals gathered at the hearing that enrollment has decreased by 1 percent, a statistic that Smith said was "not dramatic … but does decrease [state] funding."

He said that the $85.1 million that Calvert County public schools are expected to receive includes the money Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) announced Maryland will receive as part of the federal stimulus package.

Smith also said that he had written a letter to the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners in early February asking for additional funds but the board was unable to fulfill his request.

"They couldn't give any more than they already are … [the commissioners] are already giving us above what the law requires," said Smith in a later interview, explaining that the portion of funding given to education is decided upon by a formula.

Nonetheless, Smith added, "Did I hope they would give [the additional funds] to us? Yes."

Several teachers who were in the audience on Thursday urged the board of education not to take "no" for an answer from the commissioners.

"I believe the board members should go back to the commissioners and ask for more money," said Patuxent High School teacher John McGuffin, who was echoed by many of his colleagues throughout the school system.

Erin Freure, who teaches at Northern High School, encouraged the board to be "innovative and imaginative," with ways of trimming the budget.

"I would gladly give a day of pay in order to be here next year," Freure said.

Calvert County Board of County Commissioners President Wilson Parran (D) praised the formula used to decide county allocations for education saying, "It has been effective and it has allowed us to fund education beyond what is required by the state."

He also said that he believes the county has fulfilled its role with this process.

"I don't envision the board of county commissioners negotiating on this," said Parran, adding that any further negotiations will be done between the board of education, the Calvert Education Association and the Calvert Association of Education Support Staff.

Commissioner Barbara Stinnett (D) also said that she believes the commissioners have acted in a fair and generous manner.

"It's the reduction from the state that is causing the problem [with the school system] and the county has done its part," Stinnett said, adding, "I believe the school board is going to have to look for areas that could be tweaked. It's a really tough call for everybody, but I believe there are ways that they can do that."

Stinnett said these "tweaked" areas could include certain rewards that employees of the school system may receive as job perks. "If they have the money for [those perks], then they've got extra money," Stinnett said.

Joseph Sella, who is chief negotiator for both teachers and support staff with the Calvert Education Association and the Calvert Association of Education Support Staff, said he believes the aforementioned formula is a large part of the problem.

"If the county had simply maintained the percentage they had in 2004 with 50.8 percent [of the county's funds] going toward education, Jack [Smith] would have an additional $11.7 million this year," Sella said.

He said that 45.5 percent of the county expenditures went to education for the 2009 fiscal year.

"People move to Calvert County because of the schools and the commissioners are dropping the ball when it comes to this formula," Sella said, adding that said formula was agreed upon in 2004, by then Superintendent Ken Horsmon.

Sella also said that from 2006 to 2010 fiscal years, the number of new hires has increased, despite declining student enrollment.

"What the superintendent is trying to do is put the burden on us for his hiring," Sella said.

Nevertheless, Sella said his organization will speak to the board.

"We've accepted an invitation to look at the contract," he said, adding that his organization will also be giving out membership surveys to teachers and support staff to "collect feedback and see what direction they'd like to go in."

Smith said he remains hopeful that the situation will be resolved without any layoffs.

"We could potentially not eliminate any of those 90 positions, it just depends on the outcome of those negotiations," Smith said, adding that the board was able to reach an agreement with the Calvert Association of Supervisors and Administrators.

In this agreement decided upon in late February, Calvert County supervisors and administrators agreed to receive a 0.5 percent salary adjustment for 2010, as opposed to the 4.5 percent salary increase that was agreed upon in contract negotiations in years past.

During the budget hearing, Smith also stressed the importance of student-teacher ratios, which are one teacher and one assistant to an average of 25 students in kindergarten; one teacher to an average of 20 students in grades first and second; and one teacher to an average of 25 students in grades third through 12th.

Though Smith wrote in his budget message that the school system strives to "explore multiple strategies to keep the following class ratios in place," he later said those strategies would be based on positions cut and, "We have not made any determinations about those cuts because we're hopeful we won't have to make them."

The Calvert County Board of Education was able to comment at the end of the budget hearing and all members echoed Smith in saying they plan to do all they can to avoid cuts.

Board of Education President Eugene Karol commented on the situation in parallel to the recession going on in the U.S., saying, "We're facing a situation in this country that I've never witnessed and I've been around for a while … we're going to do the best we can for our kids."

William Phalen, the board's vice president, agreed and praised the school system for its history of being one of the most enviable.

"We are, as [Karol] said, at the very, very top and we're going to do our best to stay there and that comes from two things: staff and students," said Phalen.

lbuck@somdnews.com