Somersworth school budget cuts explained

Jun 24, 2010 — Foster's Daily Democrat

Kyle Stucker

Jun. 24, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- SOMERSWORTH -- Lee Sims knew his job was on the chopping block a month ago, although that knowledge still didn't make it easy when he found out Wednesday he won't be employed by the city's school district next year.

Sims, a Spanish teacher who split his time at the middle and high schools, officially lost his job after the School Board made $650,000 in cuts from their fiscal year 2011 budget on Tuesday. He said he and every teacher in the district knew they may become a "casualty" of the budget process after all 155 professional school staff members received reduction in force notices in early May.

"I'm just bummed I'm one of (those casualties)," said Sims, 28, who added he was glad it was him, though, rather than "a sole breadwinner" supporting a family or children.

Other cuts made by the School Board Tuesday night were: one custodian, a special education case manager, three paraprofessionals, all building technology coordinator stipends, the district's guidance director stipend, funding to all nonvarsity sports at the high school level, funding to boys ice hockey and lacrosse, $270,000 from their capital improvement plan budget, and $11,000 from various educational supply budgets.

When the City Council approved the $41.1 million municipal budget Monday, councilors instructed the School District to trim their $24.1 million budget proposal by $675,000, forcing the School Board to make "tough decisions" and make cuts that have the "least educational impact," Superintendent of Schools Karen Soule said Wednesday.

Soule said the biggest problem with making the cuts is programs and positions are eliminated -- not just the individuals in those positions. Somersworth is classified as a District In Need of Improvement, and has School In Need of Improvement designations as well, labels she said the district has to shed while dealing with the fact programs are shrinking.

"I think the important thing is we lost positions, and we lost five programs last year," she said. "We're not maintaining."

"What people don't understand is the positions are gone. Regardless of whether people don't have jobs, those positions are gone."

The elimination of Sims' position means the middle school won't have a foreign language class of any kind next year. Sims was concerned about this because he said students learn languages better at younger ages. He did say there are school-sanctioned online courses available, though.

His elimination also means additional responsibilities for the two remaining foreign language teachers at the high school. Sims spent 60 percent of his time teaching at the high school, and he said his absence may increase class sizes and/or reduce the number of students that can take French and Spanish.

The eliminated custodian and special education case manager will force the district to change the expectations placed on other individuals currently employed in those departments, said School Board Chair Jerry Perkins.

He said the district will now have to either "do less with less" and adjust custodian workloads downward or find "a more efficient way" to clean the buildings with one fewer custodian.

Board member Bob Gibson said he felt the work could be done with a smaller staff, although he said one implication of a larger workload is a statistically-proven correlation to an increase in accidents.

Special Education Director Bob Marquis recommended the case manager cut, and Soule said at Tuesday's School Board meeting "at the present time with what we know today, (current staff) can handle" the caseload increase created by the decision.

The paraprofessionals eliminated are: a building aide at the middle school, a building aide at Maple Wood Elementary School, and a district special education/mainstream coach. Marquis said he is "personally confident" the district can fulfill the responsibilities of the eliminated paraprofessionals by "stretching" the duties of special education teachers and mainstream coaches.

Only one of the paraprofessionals won't be employed by the district next year, though, as two of the individuals were redistributed to other positions because two vacancies were created by attrition, according to Soule.

The other individuals displaced by cuts won't receive a contract for the upcoming school year, said Soule. She said those individuals also could be worked into another position within the district, though, if one becomes vacant through attrition or retirement -- but only if the individual is certified for that position.

Soule said the building technology coordinator stipends were expendable because the teaching staff has been "educated on how to use (the) technology" needed for instruction. The stipends were created to train individuals how to use new technologies brought into the school in past years.

The elimination of this stipend doesn't displace a district employee.

The district guidance director stipend was eliminated, said Soule, because the duties could be picked up by the assistant superintendent next year. There is still a high school guidance department head.

The elimination of this stipend doesn't displace a district employee.

SAU 56 and the school board still have to decide where the last $25,000 of cuts will come from, and must make that decision by June 30.

School Administrative District 56 Business Administrator Marie D'Agostino said the district will look at possible changes in service costs, such as a $5,000 savings from signing a new contract with Waste Management for waste removal, for the remainder so additional positions will not be cut.

She said the $5,000 savings are possible because the actual cost of waste removal is below the estimate made when the district drafted its budget proposal. No other savings or areas of interest have been identified as of Wednesday, according to D'Agostino.

The $675,000 school budget cut was the largest single cut made by City Council Monday. Other reductions included $10,000 from the library budget, as well as all funding for a new police cruiser and sidewalk plow.

The city's cuts set next year's tax rate at $27.54 per $1,000 of valuation, which is $1.73 higher than fiscal year 2010, Finance Director Scott Smith said Wednesday.

A call to Karen Amos, president of the paraprofessionals union, wasn't returned Wednesday. Sue Patrakis, president of custodians union, also couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.

Newstex ID: KRTB-1268-46394091