School District Considers Cutting Teacher Jobs

The Haverford Township School District is recommending staff and administrative job eliminations as part of $1.6 million in proposed budget reductions for the 2011-2012 school year, in response to proposed state education cuts which would leave the district with $1.3 million less in state aid.

Assistant Superintendents Nicholas Rotoli and Nancy Donahue discussed the proposed cuts as part of a district reorganization plan which they presented to the Haverford Township Board of School Directors at a school board meeting on Thursday night.

Donahue said there are two proposed options for staff and administrative reductions.  Under both options, the budget reductions total $1,609,000 and include $855,000 in cuts to regular education staff, $284,000 to administrative staff and $227,000 to support staff, she said.

The first option would include eliminating a middle school assistant principal and a math coordinator from the administrative staff, 7.5 regular education teachers at the elementary school level, a 6th grade middle school teacher and 3.5 high school teachers, Donahue said.

The elementary school teacher positions would be furloughs, but 3.5 of the positions are currently not filled by the district, Donahue said.

There would be no furloughs in the middle school or high school because the job eliminations would be through attrition, Donahue commented. 

The half job elimination from the high school is a business education teacher who is going on a professional sabbatical and will receive half of his salary during that time, Donahue said.

The second option for reductions would be to reorganize class sections of grade 3 across the district by changing the classroom size guideline for grade 3 from 25 students per section to 29 students per classroom, Donahue stated. 

Current district guidelines recommend 25 students per classroom for grades K through 3 and 29 students per classroom for grades 4 and 5.

School board members and Superintendent William Keilbaugh discussed the proposed increase in class size and no one said they were opposed to the idea.

“We don’t expect to have any negative educational impact ...When you’re faced with dire financial times as we are now, it’s a viable option,” school board member James Goldschmidt said of increasing grade 3 class size.

Under option two, the administrative reductions would be the same, but there would be a reduction of 9.5 regular education teachers in the elementary schools, and of those positions, six would be furloughs, Donahue said.

There would be no middle school teacher job losses, but the high school would lose 2.5 teacher positions through attrition, Donahue said.

There would also be other cuts under both options, including reductions to pupil services such as elimination of a home and school visitor and English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, Donahue stated.

The school district is proposing budget cuts in order to make up for the $1.3 million in state aid which the district will lose if the governor’s proposed cuts to education are approved as part of the state budget, Richard Henderson, business manager for the Haverford Township School District, said when he discussed the budget with the school board.

The $1.3 million in state cuts includes $288,000 in basic education funding, $746,451 in social security subsidies and $123,491 in charter school reimbursements, Henderson said.

School board member Philip Hopkins said the state is passing off the cost of social security to taxpayers because the district is required to pay it, even without the subsidy from the state.

The school board is scheduled to vote on the proposed final budget for the district at its May 5 meeting, and adopt a final budget on June 2.

Included in the proposed 2011-2012 school district budget is the district’s proposed $1.6 million in cost reductions, Henderson said.

Henderson said more of the burden is being shifted to the taxpayers. 

Pointing to two pie charts, Henderson explained that in the 2010-2011 school district budget, 83 percent of revenue for the school district came from local taxes, 15 percent came from the state and 2 percent was funded by the federal government.

But under the proposed state budget, 85 percent of revenue for the Haverford Township School District would come from local taxes, 13 percent would come from the state and 2 percent would come from the federal funds, Henderson said.