11/30/2011
USC teachers facing job cuts
By Carla Valentine Myers for The Almanac writer@thealmanac.net
Even if they get exceptions to raise the tax hike ceiling, a budget proposal discussed Nov. 28 by the Upper St. Clair School Board would cut 14 teaching positions and six support staff positions.
The district's director of business and finance told the school board Nov. 28 that she expects to recommend at its final meeting of 2011 that the board propose a 2012-13 preliminary budget showing a nearly $2.8 million shortfall.
A preliminary budget is required to be proposed by Jan. 5 if the district intends to apply to the state for exceptions that would allow them to raise taxes higher than their 0.337 mill ceiling for 2012-13.
Expenditures are currently projected at $63,833,907, with revenues falling short by $2,798,428.
The district could apply for an exception of $600,000 for pension payments, and $230,000 for special education costs. The pension exception would permit the district to raise taxes another 0.352 mills and the special education exception would permit another 0.135 mills of taxes. This would bring to 0.82 the total tax hike for 2012-2013, if approved by the state.
Combined with the use of $400,000, which the board had been saving for future pension fund payments, the additional taxes would bring the budget deficit down to $1,568,428.
Frosina Cordisco, director of business and finance, said the district will also be able to apply for an exception to raising taxes related to the amount of debt that the district incurred prior to the approval of Act 1. The act sets a ceiling on how much each district can raise taxes each year without applying for exceptions or putting an additional tax hike to a referendum.
She said the amount of that potential exemption has not been calculated due to the difficulty of portions of the existing debt at the time having been refinanced several times to date. She said she hopes to have an estimate of that number in December.
The board meets to reorganize on Dec. 5. Its final meeting of 2011 will be Dec. 12.
Patrick O'Toole, district superintendent, presented a possible budget scenario to the board Nov. 28 that would erase the final $1.5 million shortfall.
That budget would include eliminating 14 teaching positions and six support staff positions. In addition, the budget would cut technology spending by $100,000 and operations and maintenance spending by $100,000.
This would leave the district with a $8,919 surplus in the 2012-13 budget.
"Those are pretty drastic cuts," O'Toole said. "We need to look at staff cuts to balance the budget."
O'Toole said they usually plan for 5 teachers to retire each year, but this year they may get as many as 10. That would mean two thirds of those eliminated positions would be lost through attrition.
"On Feb. 1, we'll have a better idea of retirements," he said.
Cordisco told the board Nov. 28 that even if the district applies for the exceptions to raise taxes higher than the allowed rate, they would not have to follow through and do that.
"Applying for exceptions provides us with flexibility," she said.
Rebecca Stern, board vice president, said "all we're saying is we want to keep our options open."
The alternative to moving forward with the preliminary budget in December is to adopt a resolution before Jan. 10 that the board does not intend to raise taxes by more than 0.337 mills.
Board President Harry Kunselman asked what happens if the board neither proposes a preliminary budget by Jan. 5, nor adopts a resolution to not raise taxes beyond 0.337 mills by Jan. 10.
District staff said they would have to research that question and report back to the board regarding potential consequences.
District solicitor Robert Prorok told the board that if they did not proceed with the process to apply for the exceptions in any of those three areas, then they would not be able to raise taxes higher than 0.337 mills.
Normally, school boards consider preliminary and final budgets in May and June--the months leading up to the implementation of a new budget on July 1. Applying for the exceptions does not alter the June 30 deadline for final budget adoption.
The state not only places taxation limitations on school boards, but also limits the reasons for eliminating teaching positions. O'Toole said they can only be eliminated due to a reduction in enrollment, a change or elimination of programs, or attrition.
Elective areas like foreign languages, physical education and music could be eliminated or reduced in order to successfully justify a furlough, he said. For example, music education could be altered to be offered at a later grade than it is now.
5 comments:
Right next door. Bill Hook
The Deadbeat Athletic Supporters pressured for a BIG high school project and misrepresented an $8,000,000 fund raising effort.
I’ve told you Mt. Lebanon teachers are going to lose their jobs.
John, we have said all along that we can't afford it all. Something has to give. You have been saying all along that we can't afford the teachers' contract.
Elaine
The budget problems in USC and Mt. Lebanon will seem like childs-play a few years down the road unless our so-called "leaders" have the guts to make necessary changes in Pennsylvania's pension and health-care benefits for its civil servants. Believe it or not, reforms are possible. Recently Rhode Island, a bastion of yellow-dog Democratic politics, did the impossible: It reorganized its pension system. Commenting in Reason magazine (5 December 2011) about California's looming budget disaster, Steve Greenhut, editor of CalWatchDog.com, writes:
"The tiny state of Rhode Island...faced enormous pension liabilities. Its state system was about 40 percent funded and on the brink of collapse. The Legislature and governor last month reformed the pension system by shifting to a hybrid pension plan (rather than a pure defined-benefit plan), suspended cost-of-living raises for retirees and boosted the retirement age. The reforms reduced benefits for current employees."
Going to a defined-contribution system for pensions and health-care would be steps in the right direction, but local governments and school districts must also reduce their spending as well - and I mean reduce spending, not reduce the rate of increased spending.
Given the economic situation in the USA, and an impending financial melt-down in Europe (which, given the fact that we are not an isolated economy, will affect all of us in one way or another), this is not the time to be gambling with other peoples' money by going into deeper local debt for unwise projects, regardless of how well-intentioned. One's own financial situation should be reviewed as well; it is far better to pay off debt now than to make elective home improvements.
Imagine what it would be like to awaken one morning and find a letter in the mail demanding full payment of an outstanding loan or mortgage. Could you do it? Local governments, states, and even the Feds are not immune to the same situation - with the exception that the Feds own a printing press, and they know how to use it.
Richard Gideon
The Legislature underfunded the teachers pensions. If teachers don't retie they won't be able to withdraw a lump sum, just a monthly payment. Then come layoffs or wage freezes followed by staff cuts and larger class size, plus fewer program choices,and fewer teachers being replaced as they retire. I was fortunate to retire when I did.
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