February 25, 2010
DeKalb County schools’ superintendent is calling for 148 central office employees to be laid off to help meet an anticipated $88 million deficit.
Those cuts are just the beginning of an across-the-board slashing of programs, personnel and school closings to meet the growing deficit in next year’s budget, Superintendent Crawford Lewis said. Hundreds more school workers could see their jobs on the line, too.
“I don’t want to tell my board and parents that when you cut $88 million, there won’t be an impact on services and the quality of services,” Lewis told the school board’s finance committee on Wednesday. “Will there be an impact on instruction? Absolutely.”
Lewis said the cuts — the most dramatic in his 33 years in DeKalb schools — will affect all areas. The cuts will need the school board’s approval, and the final budget is scheduled to be adopted May 10.
Last month, Lewis proposed teacher furloughs and cutting programs, including Montessori and magnet schools, to help with a projected $56 million deficit in the budget, which starts July 1.
However, because of declining property values, school officials said that deficit has grown to $88 million.
Board member Jay Cunningham said he anticipates the deficit will reach about $115 million by the summer, forcing the district to make even more cuts. Board members said they expect property values to continue to decline, affecting the tax digest. Cunningham also said he anticipates additional funding cuts by the Legislature.
“Everything is on the table,” Lewis said. “The only way to balance the budget is to cut people.”
& lt;p>Lewis is still working on the budget for next year, but the general operating budget for 2009-2010 is $851.1 million, district spokesman Dale Davis said. The district has 101,000 students.
The 148 central office cuts will save the district about $10.7 million, Lewis said.
The cuts will be made in the nine departments that make up the central office, including the superintendent’s cabinet, human resources, finance, transportation and other areas.
The 148 positions — which are all filled — represent about 15 percent of the district’s 982 employees in the central office.
“It does not target one particular group,” said Ramona Tyson, the district’s deputy chief superintendent of business operations. “This is to be fair.”
Of those cuts, about 15 will come from the superintendent’s cabinet, which includes chief officers, along with deputy, associate and assistant superintendents. The remaining cabinet members will see a cut in their pay, Lewis said.
“One of the things we’re doing is erasing layers in DeKalb schools and minimizing layers in other places,” Lewis said.
Some of the people cut will be able to apply for teacher and lower positions, but there won’t be enough openings for the majority of the laid-off workers.
“There will be people going home,” Lewis said.
Molly Bardsley, whose son goes to Huntley Hills Elementary in Chamblee, said she doesn’t feel the loss of administrators will hurt her child’s education.
“I would much rather see them cut from the top than get rid of programs,” said Bardsley, vice chair of the Huntley Hills School Council.
Other cuts could include up to 700 of the district’s 1200 paraprofessionals, which would save $6.5 million. The state pays f or only 500 of DeKalb’s paraprofessionals, Lewis said.
Lewis said he doesn’t recommend cutting all 700, but thinks the board needs to prioritize which classes have paraprofessionals. Federal law requires special education classrooms to have paraprofessionals, but no others.
Other possible cuts include the district’s 59 media clerks, which would save about $1.7 million, and 32 technology support positions, saving another $1.6 million.
Lewis also proposed cutting the salary of the graduation coaches, which have only a portion of their pay covered by the state. Slashing their salaries would save about $850,000.
Lewis is scheduled to identify the rest of the cuts to the entire board on Friday. That reduction package will include program cuts, furloughs, pay reductions and closing four elementary schools at the end of this school year. The schools will be identified in April or May, Lewis said.
Lewis said he will take any furloughs or pay cuts that he gives to his staff and is still considering possibly “adjusting” his $15,000 raise. Teachers and staff have protested since last month when the board gave Lewis the raise.
Lewis said he also is considering asking the state to allow classroom sizes to be larger, which would save more money.
School board member Eugene Walker said he doesn’t want to see DeKalb’s education program suffer and called for a 2-mill increase in property taxes to meet the deficit.
Amy Trocchi, a mother of three Midvale Elementary students, said she hopes the board considers deep cuts before raising taxes.
“I don’t mind paying more when I feel I’m going to get more,” she said. “We pay our taxes, but I bet I spend another $1,000 a year in PTA, field trips, fund-raisers and everything else.”
<p> ;Board member H. Paul Womack said everyone has to pitch in to do what’s right for the students. He said he will give his $4,000 annual travel budget back to the district and asked other board members to do the same.
“We don’t want to affect the programs in the classroom. But ladies and gentlemen, that is ultimately going to happen,” Womack said. “Everybody has a sacred this and a sacred that, but there is nothing sacred except our kids.”