Layoffs in the Kent School District will not be as big a number as originally anticipated, as more than half of the teachers who received pink slips before the May 15 deadline have been called back.
As details continue to emerge from the state and federal government over use of the federal stimulus funds being piped into education, the district reduced the number of jobs being cut to 13.9 full-time equivalency positions. That’s down significantly from the 38 FTEs the district originally was eyeing in staff cuts.
According to a letter to employees from Superintendent Barbara Grohe and Board President Jim Berrios, the reduced staff reductions are due to an improved financial forecast, which projects an ending fund balance increase of $1.2 million.
Because of the additional money, programs (and the positions associated with them) are being restored according to the priorities identified by the community this past winter.
In May, 29 teachers and six administrators received reduction-in-force notifications.
The additional money also has allowed the district to alter its bargaining position with the teachers’ union, though representatives say the proposal still does not go far enough.
Among the programs and positions being restored are: Teachers related to class size on the elementary and secondary school levels; one extra teacher or specialist at all elementary and high schools; the in-school suspension program at the middle schools; teachers associated with the fifth-grade music program; a 0.5 FTE clerical position at each middle school and a 1.0 FTE clerical position at each high school.
“We’re very glad they’ll be back,” said Kent Education Association representative Mike McNett, but added that the money in the fund balance would allow the district to restore all teaching positions. KEA is the local teachers’ union.
District officials in a prior interview said not all position cuts are budget-related, however, and those trimmed for enrollment purposes would not be back.
Additional programs may be restored as funding allows.
Positions not being restored are those made as part of the district’s first round of cuts, a list of mostly administrative trimming totaling $3.4 million.
According to the district, the improved financial situation is due to reduced spending at all levels (part of a $2.6 million budget reduction instituted this school year), energy conservation estimated to save $500,000 by year’s end and reduced energy costs.
“We intentionally suppressed our expenditures,” said Financial Director John Knutson.
The additional savings also allowed the district to alter its proposal to the KEA, restoring seven “effective education” days (state-funded, in-service training days), four workshop/report card days; one professional improvement day; and a classroom preparation day.
But representatives from the KEA are saying it is not enough and does not address the union’s basic complaints of time, workload and compensation.
“Their position is now better than it was before, but their position is still freezing the pay of the lowest-paid educators in the Puget Sound Region,” McNett said.
McNett estimated the average teacher salary in Kent to be about $54,000 for the contract period of 195 days.
McNett said the district’s proposal still does not give Kent the ability to attract and retain the best teachers and claimed the district’s starting pay is the lowest of the 20 districts in the Puget Sound Region.
Originally, the district proposed removing the additional days from the contract because there is no longer money coming from the state to pay them, but the union said that was “misleading” because the state has never funded those days. Instead the district used money for Iniative 728 (the class-size reduction measure approved by voters in 2000) – which the state is not funding this year – to pay for that time.
According to Knutson, the district did pay those days through I-728. Before the initiative was passed, the district funded those days through local levy dollars, which have since been switched to cover other expenses, such as additional teachers whose contracts are not all covered by the state.
According to the district’s Web site, each of those non-funded days costs the district $529,000.
In addition, the union also said language on the district Web site about a KEA proposal to “limit the number of new educational programs in the classroom” was “patently false.” According to McNett, the union has proposed that if more programs are added, the district must identify programs to be dropped so as to create a balance.
“If something’s going on the plate, what’s coming off?” McNett said.
McNett said the district has also failed to answer the underlying questions in the union’s issues, such as a reasonable amount of staff meetings and how best to deal with class sizes when some students take more time than others.
In total the district withdrew eight of its 13 negotiating proposals to KEA. There have been no proposal withdrawals from the union’s 49 proposals, according to the district site.
The KEA contract expires Aug. 31, 2009.
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