As the Morgan Hill School District and Board of Education move
forward with cuts to next year
’s budget, parents, teachers and the community in general have
voiced the hope that cuts will be made as far from the classroom as
possible.
As the Morgan Hill School District and Board of Education move forward with cuts to next year’s budget, parents, teachers and the community in general have voiced the hope that cuts will be made as far from the classroom as possible.
Superintendent Carolyn McKennan, other administrators and trustees have echoed the sentiment, and added that nobody likes cutting anything; nevertheless, the money has to come from somewhere.
A budget-cutting plan proposed by Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers President Mary Alice Callahan and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Bev Walker looks like a viable option. McKennan has said that she and others will meet with Callahan and Walker to consider the proposal.
The plan has two parts, a revised list of district-wide cuts and a supplemental retirement plan. Currently, 82 teachers are eligible for the retirement portion. If all who are eligible agreed to retire, the loss to students would be years of experience; the gain would be young teachers who will stay in the district for a while, plus approximately $30,000 per teacher per year less in salary.
Another positive aspect of the retirement plan is that it might save the district as much as $600,000 in one-time costs associated with hearings sought by the 111 teachers who received layoff notices. The $600,000 would cover the costs of substitutes for teachers in the hearings, hearings and attorney costs, as well as two paid days off for teachers to search for new jobs (as allowed by their contract).
If the union package is approved, according to Callahan, all but a handful of the layoff notices could be rescinded.
Let’s hope sincere consideration, by the administrators and the board, is given to the proposal.
It was briefly discussed at the last board meeting, with Trustees Amina Khemici and Shellé Thomas championing the cause, but never came to a formal vote.
How much in emotional costs to teachers, parents and principals could be saved if done before the hearings begin on April 28, not to mention actual dollars? As Assistant Superintendent Denise Tate, who heads up Human Resources for the district, has said several times, we need to make our decisions and let people know as soon as we can.
The leadership of the unions have worked hard to give us a package ready made; if the board and district administrators want to try to use the recommendations by the performance-based budget committee, which also worked very hard to put together a package, let their at least be a thorough examination of the union package. And let it be soon. How many of those 111 teachers have already sent out resumes?
