The Staff Planning Team made their recommendations last night after a ten month study. Here is the 15 page Program and Operations proposal made by an eight member planning team. Options include wage freezes for one year, closing an elementary school, increase class sizes in the high school, and reconfiguring the elementary schools.
Does this sound like a school district in trouble? Why are we still gung ho on spending $113 million+ on a high school? I think the Planning Team is made up of "fear mongers." What do you think, Rob?
11 comments:
School cuts coming
Busses for athletics,
Janitorial services,
Increased class size.
Course supply fees for books and art supplies,
Program cuts,
Professional development,
Gifted student funding,
Building closures.
How long will it take parents with children in private schools to figure out they can send their child to public school for a year and then get a voucher to cover the cost of the private school?
Bill Hook
In an earlier discussion here regarding the Penn State debacle, a resident wrote in reference to our local school district: ""Specifically, that the emphasis should be on academics first."
Reading the ideas from the planning team it appears their emphasis is in cutting academics FIRST via staff reductions, larger classes, reducing programming and maintenance. All penny wise and pound foolish in my opinion.
First of all why would the board have agreed to larger payrolls for administrators and teachers, only to turn around and declare they can't afford what they agreed to and will have to furlough people. Helluva way to run railroad!
Giffen Good
I agree that the emphasis should be on academics first followed by fine arts and athletics. The course-offering booklet for the high school plus Parkway lists over 250 different course offerings. A child taking five or six courses each of eight semesters can only take 40-48 courses so looking at programming needs appears to be a reasonable starting point. The new AP Academy for distance learning courses should strengthen the rigor of academics in Mt. Lebanon.
Retirements happen every year and we are fortunate to draw a large pool of well-qualified applicants to fill the vacated positions. Attracting high-quality professional replacements has not been a problem.
Merging English classes can be successful if we hire superior teachers to challenge our children at a very high level. If we have only average teachers in these positions the merged classes most likely won’t work as well. Fortunately, we have talented administrators to hire superior staff in a highly professional manner and the Merit Pay provision in our teachers contract should strengthen the District’s position when we are hiring.
Educational research shows smaller class size is most important in K-3. Dr. Sable emphasized K-2. A class size of 15 in the high school probably isn’t necessary absent special circumstances.
The biggest problem here is that change is the hardest thing people do. It will be hard for the entire community but we have maintained our leadership position because we have been willing to change in the past and will need to change in the future.
Mistakes have been made in the past on larger payrolls. Our Act 1 limits on millage of 1.4% and 1.7% in the last two years won’t support the increase of 4.4% in the last year of the teachers contract. That 4.4% increase will amount to a 2.2% increase in the entire budget because that contract is about one-half of our total expenses – and I haven’t added the increase in pension expense to make up for market losses. As Superintendent Allison used to say, “Do the math.”
Good luck to all in making these decisions,
John Ewing
I'll give the Staff Planning Team (SPT) credit for at least constructing their recommendations with respect to economic reality. The presentation certainly scared the Board, if one gauges the members' reactions to it!
If you couldn't attend the Board's “Discussion Session” on 14 November I highly recommend listening to the Podcast on Lebo Citizens, as this was one of the more interesting meetings.
Richard Gideon
Let's recap. We had almost 4,000 residents asking to be more fiscally responsibile. We have a review team comprised of residents,an assistant superintendent,and the director of HR making recommendations to close an elementary school, freeze wages, encourage early retirements, and increase classroom sizes for upper grades, and reconfigure schools. Yet, our school board hands out raises to our super super, commits to multi million dollar projects which include multiple prime contracts, and hires consultants at the blink of an eye.
Wake up, SB directors. The community isn't divided anymore. We're finally saying the same thing.
Just an FYI to the SB. The Public Safety Building, which opened in 2003 is costing us $250,000 in repairs.
Elaine
The rest of the story will be very interesting. The Staff Planning Team recommendations will now go to the District staff for their review and recommendations to the SB.
Any bets on which Team recommendations, if any, will survive and be endorsed by District staff ? And, if any survive, will they be adopted and not watered down by the SB ?
Bill Lewis
Mr. Ewing, I absolutely, positively agree with everything you write in your comment here.
My post on the academics first was only to highlight the missteps and short-sighted vision of boards.
First they squandered over half a million dollars on an expensive superintendent buyout (with no explanation to their constituents).
Then burned through several subsequent replacement searches at say an average of $30-40,000 each.
I agree with you, to get top talent you need to pay pretty much top dollar, but why is it we need to spend an additional $15,000+ expenses for a "strategic plan facilitator?" Shouldn't a top notch superintendent with NOW 2 assisatnt superintendents and a core of "excellent"staff and teachers be able to impliment a strategic plan?
As always there is the high school project. It includes a nearly $1,000,000 bridge to get to an athletic building that may or may not house 3 gyms like we have now. Plus, another $1,000,000 to move perfectly good tennis courts about 120 ft. We won't mention the thousands of dollars wasted on unnceccessary lawsuits with ourselves over parking, added architect fees, etc. etc.
All these missteps far exceed the potential list of savings proposed by this committee!
One thing to remember, Mr. Gardner was one of the most vocal residents pushing for a $150,000,000 high school project.
Giffen Good
My recollection was Mr. Gardner came to a SB meeting with the BOSN group of eight folks recommending we accept option two for $130,000,000. What made the meeting really memorable was after their comments - at the beginning of the meeting - school directors pulled out their WRITTEN statements and read them to the public. Did you ever hear of opening statements by the public being responded to by a WRITTEN response from directors?
Let's also look at what is happening to the York City PA District that did not control expenses.
Based on the projected revenue and projected expenses, the district administration was informed in late September that there was an eleven million dollar structural deficit for the 2011-2012 school year
A new Business Manager was hired in November. He adjusted the preliminary projections from an eleven million dollar deficit to a fourteen million dollar deficit
Reasons for the initial structural deficit
Increase in salaries and benefits
Elimination of SFS funded positions
Increase in charter school tuition
Increase in York County School of Technology tuition Increase in debt service payment
Decrease in basic education funding
District proposal to close the deficit
Decrease alternative school costs (bring students back to the district)
Eliminate purchase of textbook
Use fund balance (fund balanced reduced to two million dollars)
Eliminate stimulus funds (these job cuts were anticipated after two years)
Eliminate the use of the Advanced Skills Center
Attrition / Program Cuts / Staff Cuts
Tax increase of 3.3% or .97 mills (1 mill is = to $868,205)
As part of the preliminary budget cut of $10,558,523, the district proposed to eliminate 46 teacher positions and 65 non-instructional positions.
The preliminary was submitted to the state in February 2011 under the Act 1 of 2006 state-imposed tax index of 2.2%. The budget included our intent to file for Act 1 Referendum Exceptions raising the index to 3.3%. The district filed for Referendum Exceptions on March 1, 2001 which, if accepted, will provide for a balanced budget.
The Accountability Block Grant totaling 1.9 million dollars is currently used to fund all day kindergarten. The grant was eliminated in the Governor’s budget and will result in the furlough of an additional 25 teachers.
District Administrators volunteered to take a pay freeze for the 2011-2012 school year in order to pay for a portion of half-day kindergarten. The other portion of the program will come from Title I funds. The district’s proposal would retain kindergarten services albeit half-day, but twelve kindergarten-teaching positions still have to be eliminated.
The teachers union was asked to take a pay freeze (1.1 million dollars) for the 2011-2012 school year to pay for the 12 remaining teaching positions. The Union voted in favor of a pay freeze, therefore, full day kindergarten was saved and will return for the 2011-2012 school year.
The additional loss of 6.3 million dollars in charter school reimbursement will be difficult to cover.
Currently, schools cannot furlough / suspend staff for economic reasons. Staff can be furloughed only due to declining enrollment or program cuts.
The District eliminated 46 teachers in the preliminary budget due to program curtailments.
The District has no additional educational programs that would fall under the state’s allowable guidelines for curtailment or alteration.
(Continued)
The District is in support of Senator Folmer’s current legislation that would allow schools to furlough for financial reasons.
In order to close the 6.5 million dollar shortfall, the district would have to furlough an additional 70-85 teaching positions.
If Folmer’s legislation passes, prior to June 30, 2011, the district would be laying off between 116-131 teachers or 25% of its teaching staff.
The District eliminated 46 teachers in the preliminary budget due to program curtailments.
The District has no additional educational programs that would fall under the state’s allowable guidelines for curtailment or alteration.
The District is in support of Senator Folmer’s current legislation that would allow schools to furlough for financial reasons.
In order to close the 6.5 million dollar shortfall, the district would have to furlough an additional 70-85 teaching positions.
If Folmer’s legislation passes, prior to June 30, 2011, the district would be laying off between 116-131 teachers or 25% of its teaching staff.
As a result of these projected layoffs, class size averages at the elementary level would be 34 students, and class size at the middle school level would be 45 students in 5th grade and 35 students in 6th grade.
If Senator Folmer’s legislation is not passed by the legislature prior to June 30, 2011 then the district will not be able to submit a balanced budget, which is required by state law.
District options at that time would include being placed in distressed status by the state or declaring bankruptcy.
(Google York City School District budget for additional details.)
At this point the Administration of Mt. Lebanon has no choice but to cut costs and improve programming so we need to support them in their efforts to get Lebo to the number one position in the State.
As to the question of the $15,000 for a Strategic Planner: That is about community involvement and a buy-in form various groups. The outline of a SP can be done by administrators in a few hours but the buy-in takes some thought and time with a professional consultant. I support that expenditure. It sure beats becoming a York District facing bankruptcy.
Compared to our $15,000 for a strategic planner, here is some real waste in York:
Sixteen boxes of Hula Hoops.
Three greenhouses.
Wii video game systems.
Dozens of laptops.
Ten boxes of stopwatches.
It's just a fraction of what's sitting in storage rooms around York City School District like forgotten Christmas decorations, according to an investigation by the office of Auditor General Jack Wagner.
In total, there are $834,000 worth of unused, taxpayer purchased items in York City's storage, according to the investigation.
"This is a blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars," Wagner said at a press conference in Harrisburg on Tuesday.
Wagner called the conference to announce the findings of his investigation into 21st Century federal grant money, an investigation requested by the U.S. Department of Education.
The investigation found that both the school district and the state Department of Education are in the wrong, Wagner said. During the 2008-09 school year, district officials discovered it grossly overestimated participation in the before- and after-school 21st Century program -- a program they no longer offer --- and had a major surplus.
To avoid returning the $834,000 to the federal government, the district instead purchased such things as $43,000 in computers, $100,000 in books and $6,000 in Hershey Park tickets, tickets that went unused. That's just a few of the laundry list of items, Wagner said.
"There was no intended use," he said.
Emails obtained during the investigation showed that district officials were urging employees to purchase items quickly -- librarians were told to spend $100,000 in 60 days -- so the money would stay in the district.
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/ci_19338992?source=most_viewed
Former Superintendent John Allison is now in Wichita, Kansas. An advisory group proposed closing five elementary schools there.
First-draft proposal would close five Wichita elementaries
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