Top consideration for the next phase of Auburn School District budget cuts will be to return to the classroom teachers who had been laid off in the first phase of reductions, said Superintendent Kip Herren.
To bring them back, the Auburn School Board on Monday evening followed Herren’s recommendations and approved an additional $2,055,000 in program reductions and modifications, affecting programs from athletics and activities to administration.
“Hopefully, these reductions will put teachers back into the classrooms, which is the number one priority,” Herren said. “But it is not done without some cost and challenge to others that provide services to this community and to our students.”
One cut eliminates elementary athletics.
District officials are grappling with a $5.7 million shortfall predicated on $1.3 billion in state cuts in funding for education.
In the first phase, the district trimmed its payroll by $3.9 million, cutting 44.7 certificated full-time equivalent employees (FTEs), excluding special education, ELL and culinary arts teachers. Because some are part-time teachers, however, that actually adds up to 49 positions. These reductions include 26.33 FTE-certified replacement contracts representing 30 teachers, and all told, the reductions impact 79 employees.
(An FTE teacher teaches five periods and has one planning period. The FTE criteria will vary from department to department.)
District officials moved swiftly on the reductions because teachers have a right to a contract after May 15. In other words, if they aren’t notified by then, they will be working in the fall.
At its last meeting, board members asked Herren to return with reductions and changes to programs including transportation, library, athletics and activities, professional development help, counseling and attendance, maintenance and operations, teaming time, central office and building administration.
Top consideration was to be given to returning teachers to the classroom and to class size, which was the No. 1 priority expressed by thousands of professionals and community members, parents, classified staff and administrators polled by the district, Herren said.
“It’s better to have a teacher in the classroom rather than a new math textbook,” Herren said.
The following reductions take into account program priorities and the district improvement plan that the school board recently adopted.
• Central office administration, $570,000: The reductions include a 1.5-percent salary reduction for central office administrators through four furlough days and an equivalent reduction of one FTE in administration. Cuts call for delay in future curriculum adoptions and a reduction of substitutes and the time administrators are released during the day for curriculum reviews.
• Building administration, $285,000: Principals and assistant principles will take a 1.5-percent salary cut via three furlough days. Cuts, amounting to 2.4 FTEs, will include a reduction of time during the day that the dean of students and the athletic directors and activity directors at Auburn, Auburn Riverside and Auburn Mountainview high schools are released from teaching duties for building program administration.
“We will still have activities and athletic directors, but it will be something that each building will make a plan and recommendation with their team,” Herren said.
• Transportation, $350,000: Increase walking areas while decreasing driving time, fuel and maintenance costs. Cuts include changes to delivery systems for special programs and a reduction of an equivalent of eight FTE drivers.
• Athletics and activities, $300,000: Elimination of elementary athletics, and changes to athletics and activity administration at the middle school level, with duties shifted to building administration. There will be middle and high school reductions in supervision hours, music consultant time, extended days, travel and supplies.
• Maintenance and operations, $180,000: Reduction of three FTE staff through retirement and unfilled positions.
• Professional development, $370,000: Reduction in teacher induction and mentor program. Elimination of state-funded math and science professional development and math coaches. Reductions in conference registrations, travel and substitutes.
“We’ve met in subcommittee to go over this at great length with the administration,” said School Board President Janice Nelson. “It’s not something that we’re taking lightly, but this is a way that we can all work together to get teachers back in the classroom. Everybody’s going to impacted by it, but these are the times we’re in right now.”
Cathy DeJong, president of the Auburn Education Association and a second-grade teacher on leave from her position at Washington Elementary School, said the school board’s action gave her hope.
“The board is in a difficult spot,” DeJong said. “Our Legislature is not fully funding education. They are leaving very tough decisions to the school board. I appreciate that (the school board) is trying to keep the cuts as far away from the actual classroom as possible. I appreciate the comments tonight about trying to put back as many of our educators who have lost their employment for next year as possible. I felt that they have been listening to the community input, that they have been listening to the input of educators. I am pleased that they are taking such a thoughtful approach to this very unfortunate circumstance.”
