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Layoffs begin as crunch hits home
Linda Owen
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Last Updated February 19, 2002
As the Bemidji School District cuts jobs and programs to erase a 2002-03 budget shortfall, the hardest part for teachers is to see the worried look on the faces of their colleagues, Steve Modich says. “It’s watching the pain on people’s faces and the sleeplessness,” said Modich, president of the local teachers union in Bemidji. “You can’t just shake it. You’re waiting for the cuts to come through – ‘Is my job really gone?’”
At the moment, it looks as if 50 or more teaching jobs in Bemidji may disappear at the end of this year – the result of a $2 million revenue shortfall, a failed levy referendum last year and possible additional cuts under Gov. Jesse Ventura’s proposed budget.
For students, fallout from the staff cuts could include large classes and the loss of a four-period class schedule that allows more course options for high school students, Modich said. Similar scenarios are playing out across Minnesota. as districts struggle to make do with the inadequate funding they received from the state last year.
Some of the biggest staff reductions are planned in districts where excess levy referenda went down to defeat last November. Budget-balancing will become even harder if the governor’s proposal to cut $100 million more from K-12 education is approved. In financially troubled districts, staff cuts typically mean bigger classes, fewer elective course offerings, reductions in the number of high school and junior high class periods, restrictions in the number of classes students can sign up for, or cutbacks in the time elementary students spend with art, music and physical education specialists.
School officials have been striving for years to keep cuts away from the classroom, and now there are few other places left to find the millions of dollars needed to make up big deficits. “You’ve got to cut humans,” said Boyd Schuler, former local president in Mankato. At press time, there was no statewide tally of likely staff reductions for the 2002-2003 school year.
The Minnesota School Boards Association is surveying its members and hopes to have results by the end of this month. However, large layoffs proposed in several districts illustrate the problem. In Burnsville, 80 staff – mostly teachers – are likely to be cut, local president Paul Berge said. The district narrowly lost a $3.6 million levy referendum last fall, and now it must cut $5 million in expenditures, rather than the $1.5 million that would have been needed if the levy had passed.
The layoffs, which amount to about 10 percent of total staff, won’t mean sizeable class size increases, Berge said. But the junior high school day will go from seven class periods to six, and high school students will be allowed to sign up for only five or six of the seven periods.
To save money on elementary specialists, children will spend only half their classroom teacher’s preparation period with a specialist and the other half under the supervision of an educational assistant. Other cost-cutting moves that concern educators include a plan to go to every-other-day kindergarten.
The North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale School District plans to eliminate 60 staff positions, most of them teaching jobs, local president Warren Misiewicz said. Two elementary schools also have been scheduled for closing after voters refused to renew a $6.7 million levy last fall.
Class sizes are expected to increase by four students at all levels next fall, Misiewicz said. Teachers are voting whether to allow the district to use most of its staff development “set-aside” money for other purposes next year. As painful as that would be, he said, the money could save as many as 18 teaching jobs for one more year.
The district also plans to eliminate its curriculum department for one year, he said, but officials realize that such moves aren’t permanent. If another levy referendum fails next fall, Misiewicz said, the high school four-period block schedule and the middle school teaming concept are likely to be scrapped in favor of less costly plans.
In Mankato, a proposed reduction of 15 to 20 staff jobs would hurt students, Schuler said. The district has discussed offering fewer electives and limiting the number of courses for which students can register. “It’s going to affect kids,” he said, “especially (academically) marginal kids who had some success in passing electives. Those electives are not going to be there. If you reduce family consumer science, marketing or business or tech ed classes, where are they going to go?” He fears some would drop out of high school or seek opportunities at charter schools.
In Bemidji, the financial crisis is forcing some no-win decisions. The district has asked high school teachers if they will agree to reduce their preparation time in order to save money, Modich said, but teachers are struggling with their workload even with the prep time they have now. But if there isn’t enough money to keep the four-period day, he said, advanced students may choose to attend nearby colleges under the state’s post-secondary options program to get the courses they want – a resource-draining “domino effect.” “What hurts most is knowing the quality is going down to what Jesse (Ventura) refers to as the basics of education,” Modich said.
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Think of what the world would be like..if we had no teachers..our children growing up with only us to show them the way..and some of us..arent such good mommies and daddies..Its sad to see this happen..makes me rethink the having children part of my life..not that i would want to miss out on the joys..but..how can i bring an innocent person into this old mean world..that dosnt seem to be getting any better..what if i couldnt teach them everything they need to know to survive?..Things like this have to make you stop and think..
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May I add.. maybe it was not a "lay off" indeed...maybe you have just been re-cycled. And this is a chance for you to sit back and breathe and regain your energies to become just whom ever you want to be.
No one knows you as well as YOU do-so keep your ears close to your heart and follow your dreams.
For what it's worth- I believe in you and know that whatever it is you choose- it will be for the good of this ole' world....and for you- you deserve the best so give it to yourself.
[img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img]
<font color="#f7f7f7" size="1">[ February 27, 2002 09:14 PM: Message edited by: Father Dave ]</font>
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Chloeeeeeeeee i have a job for u
its outta state lol
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*thinks*
well i guess the job could come to u [img]smile.gif[/img]
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Chloe...I'd take the job with Scott*giggles*.....he's a real sweetheart [img]wink.gif[/img]
