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Furloughs Proposed For School Employees

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By ADAM EMERSON

aemerson@tampatrib.com

Published: March 7, 2009

Updated: 03/07/2009 12:41 am

TAMPA - Hillsborough County school administrators unveiled a budget-cutting plan this week that would mean lost wages for thousands of employees.

Administrators have proposed two-day furloughs with no pay next school year for teachers, custodians and bus drivers, among others. Those who work on 12-month contracts, which include administrators and their secretaries, would take three days off without pay.

The school district also would cut pay for teachers hired after they retired and who remained at the top of the pay scale, which comes to $61,594. Under the plan brought to the teachers union on Thursday, those wages would be cut to the starting level, or $37,014. More than 200 teachers would be affected.

The school district employs about 25,000 workers, which makes it the largest employer in Hillsborough County. Its leaders have warned of deep cuts for months, and now the state is facing a $5 billion deficit.

Florida's education commissioner has told school superintendents that they may have to eliminate as much as 15 percent from their budgets next fiscal year. For Hillsborough County, that comes to about $196 million.

"I would ask that you also consider the big picture," Superintendent MaryEllen Elia wrote in a memo Friday to employees. "Please consider why we are resorting to these alternatives and how we went about identifying the initiatives that will save the most money and do the least harm."

Administrators, though, are proposing a "long-term solution to a short-term problem," said Yvonne Lyons, executive director of the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association.

"They're planning the budget as if the sun will never come up tomorrow," Lyons said.

Negotiations with the teachers union will continue March 19, and the school board would sign off on whatever both sides decide.

The state's economy, however, is quickly getting worse. The school district already has trimmed about $82 million in the last two years in ways mostly invisible to parents. Administrators have cut vacant jobs, eliminated bus routes and had instructors teach an extra class period.

The district also is planning a switch to a four-day summer workweek and will not bring back teachers who have extended their time in the state's deferred retirement program.

Now the cuts may go deeper, unless the Legislature comes up with a way to increase revenue while it meets for the next two months.

Furloughs would save the district about $11.4 million. If the union accepts the proposal, both sides would negotiate when teachers would take the days off during the next school year.

Not all the planned cuts are under negotiation, however.

The district also plans to reduce the number of work days for ROTC instructors, psychologists, social workers, health assistants, adult technical and career center employees, and others.

Art, music and physical education teachers would work an extra 30-minute class period, and the district would eventually eliminate kindergarten aides through attrition.

Lyons argues that the district is moving forward with some cuts before administrators know just how bad the budget will get. Lawmakers haven't had time to figure out how to soften schools from the worst cuts, she said.

Union leaders also say the district failed to consider how federal stimulus money may close the deficit. Administrators, though, say they don't yet know how they can spend all that money. Most of it comes with strings attached, and the district is reluctant to use one-time money to pay for recurring expenses, such as salaries.

Under the stimulus plan, Hillsborough County schools would receive $38.9 million for economically needy students and $44 million for special education. A more substantial pot of money would "stabilize" schools, but superintendents don't yet know how the state would divvy up that money.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.

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