More than 30 Jefferson citizens attended a special meeting of the Jefferson School Committee, July 29, at which the committee approved staff reduction totaling $240,000 in savings to taxpayers.
In a July 23 budget validation referendum vote, Jefferson voters stood behind a $240,000 cut to regular instruction, previously adopted in open town meeting.
On July 29, Alternative Organizational Structure 93 Superintendent Steve Bailey said the proposals he would present to the committee were specific as to which staff members would be taken off the school roster.
He said at least one of them would be likely to collect unemployment insurance.
Bailey said provisions in the district’s collective bargaining agreement dictated that the choice of which teachers to let go be based on seniority, certification, teaching experience, and performance evaluations. Those with the lowest ratings were more vulnerable to reductions in force and cuts in hours than teachers with more experience, certifications, etc.
Before Bailey presented his proposal, Chairman William Westrich offered comments on the situation.
“Lincoln County has the oldest population in Maine and Maine has the oldest population in the country,” Westrich said. “We have to attract young families if we want to reverse that.”
He said a high-quality educational system was one of the best ways to bring young families to Jefferson and that, more than a state-of-the-art building, the quality of a school is determined by its staff and programs.
Westrich said Jefferson Village School has shown great improvement in recent years. He said the expenditure budget presented by the board last spring was 1 percent lower than the previous year, despite increased health insurance costs and cuts in state revenue sharing and subsidy.
The proposal originally made July 9 by Wayne Parlin to cut $240,000 from the regular instruction line, was specific, Westrich said, and was “not meant to reduce taxes but to eliminate four teaching positions to meet the state’s essential programs and services model.”
He said the budget changes the board would consider reflected a two-question exit poll conducted at the July 23 referendum.
In response to a question asking if voters felt the $240,000 cut to the regular instruction category was “too deep” 77 percent answered “yes.”
Responding to a second question, calling for advice on whether such cuts should impact classroom teachers or the so-called special programs of art, music and physical education, 68.9 percent said a combination of classroom and specials should be affected, with the rest of those surveyed evenly split between classroom, specials and “don’t know.”
Westrich said the revised budget would have no allowance to cover the cost of any additional secondary-level students who might enter Jefferson’s school rolls. He said that cost would be approximately $10,000 per student.
In preparing his new proposal, Bailey said he met with Jefferson Village School Principal Peter Gallace and members of the JVS staff. He said Gallace talked with teachers in groups and as individuals.
Bailey said the amount of local tax money used to fund education in Jefferson has gone down since the 2011-2012 fiscal year, when the amount paid through taxes was $3,225,570 plus $357,720 from a beginning fund balance.
For the 2012-2013 budget, Jefferson taxpayers provided $3,196,713 plus $345,500 in funds carried over from the previous year.
The budget Bailey was about to present would call for $3,190,954 in new taxes and a fund balance of $20,000. Bailey later said the lower fund balance amount primarily reflected “significant transportation costs in terms of bus repairs and unanticipated special education costs,” for a student who moved into the district after that budget had been finalized. Those students required extensive out-of-district services.
Bailey described the progress Jefferson students have made, as shown by test scores over the past three years. In those results, reading proficiency has improved by an average of approximately 10 percent for grades 3 to 8.
Math proficiency has improved by approximately 7 percent, with a significant drop in scores in grades 7 and 8. Bailey said this was the impetus for hiring an additional middle school teacher, a position that will not be in the final budget.
The greatest improvement was in student writing, which is tested in grades 5 and 8. Student proficiency improved by 34.5 percent in that category over the three-year period. Bailey said this was the best writing result in the district.
He said hard work from the staff and support from parents and the community were responsible for the improvements.
Cutting the specials positions to half-time would save $80,122 in salaries and benefits, Bailey said July 30. He said it was still being determined whether the half-time positions would garner any savings in benefits costs.
An education technician position will be cut, saving $23,685 in salary and benefits. The person holding that position will become a special education ed tech, Bailey said.
The total cost reduction in salaries and benefits would be $282,360.
Bailey said the cost of providing salaries and benefits to the art, music and physical education teachers during a required 90-day notice period would be $20,355.
Payments to the teacher affected by the eliminated position would be approximately $10,893 plus an unemployment insurance cost of $12,500 and dental and health insurance costs totaling $3920.
The total cost for the 90-day notice period and unemployment benefits would be $47,668.
Bailey said the additional $5308 needed to reach the $240,000 reduction goal would come from supplies within the regular education budget.
Gallace said enrollment figures for the coming year have not changed since the board’s last meeting.
Board member Raymond Anderson made a motion to adopt a fiscal year 2014 budget with a $240,000 reduction within the regular instruction budget category and a total budget amount of $4,937,397. This would make a revised regular instruction total of $1,912,620 and eliminate the two unfilled teaching positions.
The motion carried 3 to 2 with school committee members Ellie Day and Forrest Bryant abstaining.
Westrich made a motion to eliminate one classroom teaching position, the music teaching position, the art teaching position, and the physical education teaching position for the 2013-2014 school year “because of changes in local conditions” and to terminate the teaching contracts of Sandra Brann, music teacher Ruth Holden, art teacher Hilary Gallione and physical education teacher Rose Marie Angell as of Thursday, Oct. 31.
The motion instructed the superintendent to provide Brann, Holden, Gallione and Angell with at least 90 days prior written notice of the elimination of their positions and the termination of their teaching contracts.
The motion also called for the creation of half-time teaching positions, effective Friday, Nov. 1, in music, art and physical education, and offering those potions to Holden, Gallione, and Angell for the remainder of the 2013-2014 school year, those offers to be void if not accepted in writing by Wednesday, Aug. 21.
That motion also passed 3 to 2, with school committee members Bryant and Joan Jackson opposed.
Westrich then offered a third motion, “to eliminate one educational technician position for the 2013-2014 school year because of changes in local conditions and to terminate the educational technician contract of Jocelyn Joyce as of Aug. 31,” and to instruct Bailey to provide Joyce with at least 30 days prior written notice of the elimination of the position and the termination of her contract.
Westrich and Anderson supported that motion but Jackson and Bryant were opposed. Day abstained.
Bailey explained the position to be cut was in the Pathways program and that it was the best one to make under the circumstances. He said Gallace would make adjustments within existing staff to cover needs in the Pathways classroom. Bailey said two additional students have enrolled in Pathways for the coming year.
“This leaves only one regular ed tech in grades K-8,” he said.
The motion was resubmitted and passed 4 to 1, with Bryant opposed.
In other business, Bailey said he continues to work with general contractor Kevin Bowman, site work subcontractor George C. Hall, a representative of architect Oak Point Associates, and owners representative Mary Beth Van Keuren to resolve what he described as “minor issues” remaining relative to concerns about glass in the softball infield.
He said he would meet with Tim Madden from Ranor Mechanical and others to walk through the school to review work that still must be completed before the district can accept the building as completed.
“This is not a final inspection,” Bailey said. “This is to identify those things that still need to be done and can be done prior to school starting Sept. 3.”
The next regular meeting of the Jefferson School Committee is Monday, Aug. 5 at 6 p.m. at the Jefferson Village School. For more information call the AOS 93 office at 563-3044.
(Ed. Note: This story has been edited to correctly report the date of the next meeting of the Jefferson School Committee.)