Burke Schools leaders: No promises on layoffs with $4.5M budget reduction

A key point of contention between the Board of Education and The Paper that resulted in the controversial removal of media access was the publication’s use of the word “layoffs” in its Dec. 6 headline.

At last Monday’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting, the board took great pains to declare that layoffs were not on the table as a means of managing budget shortfalls.

However, recorded presentations and subsequent interviews point to keeping the layoffs as an option.

Though Superintendent Dr. Mike Swan said during the Monday meeting that “steps are being taken to avoid teacher layoffs,” neither Swan or Board Chair Tiana Beachler would commit to ruling them out over the next 12 months.

“That’s not on our table, we’ve not discussed that at all,” said Swan. “I can’t say that’s not going to happen. I’m not going to be on record to say we’re not saying that, because then all of a sudden, lay off one person, then I’ve gone against my word … Within the next 12 months — I still don’t want to say that.”

“We don’t know what’s happening at the state level with funding. We don’t have a state budget. We’re operating on last year’s budget,” he said.

Beachler said, “Can I commit to that? … We recognize that we have a lot of teachers with fewer students. We recognize that.”

Beachler said, “That does not immediately equate to us repeating that information in a very public form that we’re saying, ‘Layoffs are coming.’ That’s not what that means. It means we’re going to have some very hard conversations — as to what those conversations are, I don’t know yet.”

The headline descriptor, they said later, was one of the strong impetuses to restrict The Paper’s media access. It is a move, media lawyers said, that amounts to illegal censorship.

Underscoring that all options for adjusting operations amid shrinking budgets are being explored, Financial Officer Keith Lawson displayed a spreadsheet on large screens listing potential budget-cut ideas submitted by district directors.

The spreadsheet included consolidations, outsourcing of services, staff reductions, and other cost-saving measures.

The spreadsheet was up for a few seconds before he switched the view.

When asked for a copy of the spreadsheet, the district’s public relations officer told The Paper that the document was shown inadvertently and was not meant to be public record.

Due to the district’s concerns over the file’s nature surrounding personnel, The Paper did not publish the worksheet, despite its broadcast during a public meeting. The document remains visible in the recording of the meeting on the district’s YouTube channel.

Public Relations Officer Cheryl Shuffler explained the district’s approach to brainstorming cost-saving measures in a meeting with The Paper on Thursday.

She said, “The charge to the leadership team was, ‘Look at your budget. See what we can consolidate and cut, but protect the employees from being laid off … As we get these resignations and retirements that pop up, let’s take an honest look at, just because we’ve been doing something the way we’ve always done it, how can we think outside the box and do that differently and leaner?”

Swan specified during the board’s two December meetings that the first strategy in facing the challenges ahead would be attrition.

The district plans to consolidate positions when appropriate. When a teacher or faculty member retires or resigns, the responsibilities will be reassigned to other employees instead of filling the position.

“If we can save something in this role that can be translated into saving a staff member to keep our class sizes down — absolutely, we’ll do it,” Swan said on Thursday.

He pointed out that Child Nutritionist Director Daniel Wall absorbed the responsibilities of Transportation Director earlier this year.

“For example, the cost savings with Mr. Wall in combining two positions — that’s cost savings that can go directly back towards the classroom,” Swan said. “Nobody wants more work on their plate, but if we can do more work during these lean times, then we’re gonna do it.”

The superintendent was confident that consolidations and program minimization could make up for the large deficit.

The district started the school year with 770 teachers, and that total has been reduced to 736 through resignations or retirements.

Swan said final numbers on resignations and retirements typically aren’t available until February or March, though the district usually sees between 30 and 50 teacher retirements each year.

He noted that the school district has already realized $1.3 million in savings through such measures as attrition and reducing electricity and water consumption.

The remaining funding gap of $3.6 million equates to about 60 teachers based on a beginning teacher’s salary of $41,000 plus benefits, Swan said, and underlined that such an equivalency isn’t fully accurate.

“That $4.5 million, I think there’s some misconception there,” he said. “That’s not all staff. That’s our overall budget.”

Swan said the impact may be felt in student-to-teacher ratios, but he hopes to limit class sizes to one teacher to every 15 or 16 students.

“We’ve consolidated classrooms,” he said. “For example, if you have three fifth grade classrooms that are having low numbers, and you can pick one group of 20 students and break those 20 students amongst the other two without going over the threshold — whatever the state designates is the threshold — that’s what we’ve been doing. That’s been a common practice, not just in budget shortfall years; it’s always been a common practice to try and do that.”

Beyond classrooms and position eliminations, Beachler shared her concerns for the people at the center of the school district — the teachers.

“But the harm that words can cause, that The Paper doesn’t see — they don’t get the calls — is real,” Beachler said. “When we’re having to talk to people, moms and grandmas, and say, ‘You don’t have to pause Christmas shopping.’ This is where our indignation comes from.”