POSSIBLE CUTS TO AVOID A FUTURE LEVY

Submitted at the May 4, 2006 Work Session

Questions

1.      Since we have 2 principals who resigned I would suggest not replacing them at all. I noticed in an Enquirer article [West Clermont cuts administrative positions 4-3-06] where their district cut 5 administrators.

2.      Since a big part of the principals job, at the higher level, is discipline can’t we hire lower paid staff to do that job?

3.      Can we justify 3 curriculum administrators? I noticed an Enquirer article [CPS cuts staffers 3-28-06] that stated the CPS reduced their curriculum administrators from 5 to 3.

4.      Why do we need 10 PR people, one in each building?

5.      Why did we create the bus safety coordinator position? Wasn’t this handled by the 2 transportation directors?

6.      I would like to know what law requires us to use certified staff in our libraries? [2 making over $70,000 a year]

7.      Do any of our supplemental people, like head coaches, get an additional class period off? If they do is there a contractual requirement to do it?

8.      Can we really justify 16 tech support supplementals? How many full time tech support people do we have?

9.      Could you please explain the unit leaders, there are over 40?

10. Can we justify 86 teaching aids? Please note I’m not suggesting we cut any special education aids. We apparently have an additional 81 special education aids. [ as reported by Rob at the 3-16-06 meeting]

I would like to consider the following before we cut any teachers

1.      Reducing the number of principals.

2.      Reducing the number of curriculum administrators.

3.      An across the board cut in Extra-Curriculars/Supplemental from the current $850,000. I would like a thorough review of each supplemental in an effort to justify the cost to the district. I would also like to see a plea to the public for volunteers to staff many of these positions. In my opinion the supplemental contracts should go to the qualified volunteer first.

4.      Cutting the 10 PR supplementals.

5.      Cutting the bus safety director and assigning those duties to the 2 transportation directors.

6.      Hiring Liberians for our libraries instead of using $70,000 teachers.

7.      Cut additional regular teaching aids.

8.      We should consider a cut in the staff support budget, that shows $171,000 for meetings and mileage and the $10,000 expense for administrator tuition.

9.      Removal of the board pickup of the administrators share of STRS and require all staff to pay more toward their health benefits.

PLEASE NOTE

In my list of possible cuts there is no mention of items contained in our union contracts. Discussing cuts in this area now is a moot point because these contracts don’t expire until the summer of 2008. I firmly believe the budget can be balanced and a future operating levy can be avoided with proper staff reductions and meaningful contract concessions.

My list of cuts were put together from documents and records I already had in my possession. If we put a committee together to study the budget and the spending practices of the school there is no telling how much money we could save.

THE BOARD MADE THE FOLLOWING CUTS ON 5-18-06 WITHOUT DISCUSSING MY QUESTIONS OR SUGGESTED CUTS

Board approves revised 5-year forecast to delay levy

The Fairfield Board of Education on May 18 adopted a five-year expenditure plan that trims almost $900,000 from the district’s 2005-06 and 2006-07 budgets and keeps the district in the black through the end of the 2008-09 school year.

For several months, Fairfield’s board and administration have weighed a series of budget scenarios in preparation for approval of the five-year plan, which by Ohio law must be filed twice annually with the state.

The board asked the superintendent to explore ways to trim the five-year budget to stretch the November 2004 operating levy and hopefully delay the need for another levy by an additional year.

The new five-year forecast cuts almost $900,000 from the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years.

Building and department budgets were cut $400,000 for the current year, a cut that will remain in place throughout the five-year plan. However, at its May 4 work session, the board asked the superintendent and treasurer to work with administrators and investigate reinstating some of this year’s $400,000 in reductions to help “ease the pain” of the cuts. After careful consideration, administrators instead requested a one-time granting of $127,600 for specific building and department requests next year, an amount included in the 2006-07 expenditures.

For 2006-07, seven teaching positions will be eliminated mostly through attrition, for a reduction of $377,435. Three aide positions will be eliminated and additional aides’ hours will be reduced, for another $58,615 in reductions. Six unit leader supplemental positions will be eliminated, reducing the budget another $15,285.

Expenditures of $50,000 will be shifted from the General Fund to the Permanent Improvement Fund. Another $56,602 will be realized through a one-time property, fleet and liability insurance savings for 2006-07.

These reductions and savings – combined with others that include the elimination of the courier position and a better-than-expected new five-year copier lease contract – total $880,628 in reductions in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 budgets.

Because these savings compound through the life of the five-year forecast – even when assuming one or two teachers may have to be added in 2007-08 for increased enrollment – projections show a balance of $145,436 at the end of the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Assuming state funding does not change dramatically and costs such as health insurance and other expenses continue as expected, the new five-year plan projects that there will be no need for additional local tax revenues through the 2008-09 school year.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THREE FAIRFIELD SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS EARN ALL (OR PART) OF THEIR LIVELIHOOD THROUGH TAXPAYER-FUNDED GOVERNMENT JOBS. THEY COME FROM A TAX-AND-SPEND CULTURE. IS IT ANY WONDER WHY THEY REFUSE TO MAKE THE APPROPRIATE BUDGET CUTS TO KEEP FUTURE SCHOOL LEVIES OFF THE BALLOT FOR A VERY LONG TIME (IF NOT FOREVER) ?

AS LONG AS OUR SCHOOL BOARD IS DOMINATED BY THOSE WITH A "PRO-LEVY"

ATTITUDE, HOMEOWNERS SHOULD EXPECT THE STATUS QUO OF EXCESSIVE AND WASTEFUL SPENDING AND HIGHER PROPERTY TAXES.

Arnie Engel

Fairfield School Board Member