Pasco school district looks at layoffs

The Pasco County School District, facing at least a $28.4 million budget shortfall for 2010-11, will need to lay off employees to balance its budget, district officials said today.

"There will be some layoffs this year," Superintendent Heather Fiorentino told school board members at a budget workshop. "There's no way to avoid that."

Just how many jobs would be eliminated - or what areas ultimately would be targeted - is still uncertain. Salary cuts, furlough days and elimination of some programs, such as driver's education, are other options being considered to save money.

Those other cuts won't be enough to avoid eliminating jobs, said Olga Swinson, the district's chief finance officer.

"The math person in me tells me we are not going to keep everyone employed," she said.
The expected shortfall is because of several factors, including an 11 percent drop in the tax base because of declining property values and state class-size requirements that limit how many students can be in a classroom.

School board members reviewed four staff-prepared proposals for spending cuts, but didn't settle on any even though Fiorentino pressed them to say whether they favor one plan that would require middle and high school teachers to teach all six class periods a day.

Right now, the teachers have five classes and a planning period. The district could save $12 million by laying off some middle and high school teachers and giving those remaining a sixth class period.

Fiorentino said she needed an answer on that particular proposal soon. High school and middle school principals are already planning for the 2010-11 academic year.

Assistant Superintendent Jim Davis, who supervises high schools, said schools have a Plan A and a Plan B, depending on which way the board goes, but time is of the essence.

"They need to know how to proceed," Davis said. "Even more so, it's fair to the employees."

Some board members, including Chairman Allen Altman, said they need more time before committing to such a drastic change. They promised to give Fiorentino an answer at the next budget workshop scheduled for 9:30 a.m. May 11.

Board Vice Chairwoman Joanne Hurley leaned against the six-class-periods option because high school and middle school teachers would bear the brunt of the cuts.

"My goal would be to spread the pain around as much as possible," she said.

Board members Kathryn Starkey and Cathi Martin said they, reluctantly, favored the plan.
"I don't see where we have a choice," Starkey said.

Giving high school and middle school teachers an extra class period would require negotiations with United School Employees of Pasco, the union that represents teachers.

Under the proposal, planning time wouldn't be completely eliminated. The teachers' work day would be extended 30 minutes and they would be paid for that time, Fiorentino said.

Jim Ciadella, a business representative with the union, tried to pin down district officials on just how many teaching jobs would be eliminated under the six-class-period plan.

Officials said they couldn't give a firm number. Assistant Superintendent Tina Tiede, though, said it would be about one out of every six middle and high school teaching positions.

The four budget-saving proposals school board members reviewed were compiled after the district solicited suggestions from school employees. Board members also plan to seek additional input from the community at a series of town hall meetings.

The proposal that included the six-class-period day also included one furlough day for all employees and two for year-round employees, a $2.1 million savings.

One of the proposals suggested $13.3 million could be saved with a 4 percent pay cut for all employees, and another proposal would save $14 million by using capital funds to pay for insurance premiums.

The fourth proposal, among other things, would eliminate school nurses, eliminate one assistant principal at every middle and high school, and require employees to share the cost of their health insurance. Under their contract, school employees don't pay for health insurance, though they do pay to insure family members.

All four proposals call for elimination of the dental insurance benefit; elimination of driver's education; creation of an early retirement program; and elimination of busing for International Baccalaureate programs and career academies.

"There's not one of these I want to do," Starkey said as she surveyed the options.

Fiorentino said everyone in the district, including the people who recommended the cuts, would agree.

The board has had to make cutbacks in previous lean budget years, though, so anything easy was slashed long ago.

"Pretty much you've gouged and gorged every other group," Fiorentino said.