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Hernando Puts Hold On Filling Teacher Vacancies

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By TONY MARRERO, Hernando Today

Published: October 13, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - Hold off on filling open teacher positions unless they're absolutely necessary.

That is the directive from Hernando County schools Superintendent Wayne Alexander in light of the district's uncertain financial picture.

'We're just going to take a step back here for a little while, take a view of the landscape, see what the wants and needs are and try to come up with funding necessary to meet those needs,' Alexander said.

On Tuesday, however, that financial picture got a little clearer - and the news is not as bad as expected, school officials said.

The cut in state funds for Hernando County schools likely will be about $1 million less than initially projected, according to Deborah Bruggink, the district's finance director.

'That's a big deal,' Bruggink said. 'The state of Florida tried to hold education harmless.'

Lawmakers said they would do their best to minimize the impact to education funding. Initial warnings from the state put Hernando's share of the cut at $3.2 million.

A final legislative conference report issued Tuesday, however, had that figure at a little more than $2.275 million.

While anything can happen until Gov. Charlie Crist signs the legislation, Bruggink said she was 'feeling pretty confident' the number will hold.
Welcome News To District

It's welcome news to a district that took another financial blow recently. The district will lose $2.5 million in state money after projections for full-time enrollment fell short by 578 students.
Bruggink has started crunching numbers to see how the smaller funding cut will affect contract negotiations with the Hernando Classroom Teachers' Association.

Those talks have been in a holding pattern of sorts until the district knows for certain its financial footing.

Alexander said he put the hiring freeze into effect with current teachers in mind and the goal to 'stay competitive' when it comes to salaries.

It is unclear how many open teaching positions there are in Hernando County schools.

Principals have been asked to hold off on making all but the most urgent staffing requests, Alexander said.

He said that he is assessing such requests on a case-by-case basis. In the meantime, the district is making do with longer-term substitute teachers.

Joe Vitalo, HCTA president, said his organization is encouraged by the latest figures from Tallahassee as well as Alexander's apparent priorities.

'The most important thing was trying to not affect spending in the classroom, which of course is a direct connection to our students,' he said.

Vitalo said that he is in the process of gauging the effect of the freeze, but said such action always prompts some concern.

'You have teachers who work as a department or a grade-level team,' he said. 'When you have a long-term substitute in there, it kind of throws off cohesion of the group.

'But we're pretty sure this is a temporary position, and, when smoke clears we'll be getting back to highly qualified teachers in front of our kids.'

Merit Plan Affected

Still unanswered are questions about how the Merit Award Program, will be affected when the special session is done. Lawmakers have decided to carry over the $147 million set aside for the controversial teacher bonus program to the 2008-09 year, but are still requiring participating school districts to move forward with implementing their plans this year.

Roughly two-thirds of the state's 67 school districts rejected the plan that uses FCAT scores and principal evaluations to dole out bonuses.

The question is what will be done with money that would have gone to districts that rejected the plan, said Heather Martin, Hernando's executive director of business services.

The balance could go toward rewarding more teachers, be put back in the general education pot, or some other option, Martin said.

The Hernando school board reluctantly approved its MAP plan and submitted it to the state Department of Education for approval, which is pending. The board told staff to spend no money on its implementation without coming back before the board. The bonus is equal to 5 percent of the average teacher salary, which has yet to be determined.

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