Recommended budget cuts for 2010-11

[munn5]

The school system needs to find $2,624,604 in budget cuts/savings for the 2010-11 school year. The board tentatively selected the scenario below, but may tweak it some at the meeting next week.

	Scenario C
Central Office Administrators - 1	80,445
High School Band Directors - 3 months of employment (1 each school)	15,530
Curriculum Coaches -9 - 11 to 10 months	47,419
Instructional Services Division Facilitators -11 - 12 to 11 months	66,027
Career Technical Education positions paid from State Regular ADM - 3	154,781
Middle School Spanish - 4.5 positions	230,351
Academically Intellectually Gifted - 1 position	55,574
Overtime Reduction 25%	50,000
Testing Coordinators - 3 positions	109,634
Teacher Assistants - 20	571,780
Media Assistants - 7	212,222
Clerical/Custodians reduction - 39 months of employment	138,423
Central Office Clerical - 1	45,650
Employee Dental	316,577
New Teacher Signing Bonus	25,974
School Instructional Allotments (Supplies & Materials)	265,378
School-based Rewards	14,291
Instructional Field Trips	38,360
Local Staff Development	108,094
Supplies and Materials – Central Office	78,094
Grand Total	2,624,604

Other cuts (considered but not made)
Local Supplements
HIgh School Athletic Directors - 3 months of employment (1 each school)
Curriculum Coaches - 5
Instructional Services Facilitators - 4
Instructional Technology Facilitators - 3
Career Technical Education positions paid from State Regular ADM - 5
Teacher Assistants - 13
Teacher Assistants - 10
Teacher Assistants - reduction in days of employment

More info
http://www.chatham.k12.nc.us/board/meetings/2009-2010/03_01_10_boemtg/Agenda%20Item-2010-2011%20Budget%20Presentation.pdf
Table with 5 scenarios is on page 7

Slides
http://www.chatham.k12.nc.us/board/meetings/2009-2010/03_01_10_boemtg/budget_presentation/Budget%20Presentation%202010_second_compressed.pdf

[munn5]

For those of you with comments on the budget, it's just as easy to email the board as it is to post on the BBS. Here are the school board members email addresses:
Deb McManus (chair) uncdeb@earthlink.net
Kathie Russell (vice-chair) krussell@chatham.k12.nc.us
Flint O'Brien flint@flintobrien.com
David Hamm dhamm@chatham.k12.nc.us
Gary Leonard gleonard@chatham.k12.nc.us

[chathambooks]

Thank you Mia for your constant dedication to education.

[munn5]

The vote on the budget will be Monday, March 8. For details, go to http://chatham-county-nc.com/bulletinboard/index.php/topic,17455.msg177975.html#msg177975

[munn5]

The budget situation has improved somewhat since last week. Instead of a $303.58 decrease per student, the state now says the decrease will be $206.53 per student. The district has also reallocated some local funds, with the result that only $1,570,533 will be necessary. The recommended cut is Scenario C.3 below. Compare it to last week's C.2 and an alternative Scenario F this week. (Key difference between C.3 and F is cutting 7 assistants or 4.5 [all] middle school Spanish teachers.

C.3 requires cutting 5 certified positions and 8 classified positions. It is anticipated that there will be more vacancies than that due to retirements and resignations, so though positions will be cut, likely no people will need to be let go.

	Scenario C.2	Scenario C.3	Scenario F
Central Office Administrators - 1	80,445	80,445	80,445
High School Band Directors - 3 months of employment (1 each school)	15,530
Curriculum Coaches -9 - 11 to 10 months	47,419	47,419	47,419
Instructional Services Division Facilitators -11 - 12 to 11 months	66,027	66,027	66,027
Career Technical Education positions paid from State Regular ADM - 3	154,781	154,781	154,781
Middle School Spanish - 4.5 positions	230,351		230,351
Academically Intellectually Gifted - 1 position	55,574	55,574	55,574
Overtime Reduction 25%	50,000	50,000	50,000
Testing Coordinators - 3 positions	109,634
Teacher Assistants - 20	571,780
Media Assistants - 7	212,222
Teacher or Media Assistants - 7		200,123
Clerical/Custodians reduction - 39 months of employment	138,423
Central Office Clerical - 1	45,650	45,650	45,650
Employee Dental	316,577	316,577	316,577
New Teacher Signing Bonus	25,974	25,974	25,974
School Instructional Allotments (Supplies & Materials)	265,378	259,807	229,579
School-based Rewards	14,291	14,291	14,291
Instructional Field Trips	38,360	38,360	38,360
Local Staff Development	108,094	135,693	135,693
Supplies and Materials – Central Office	78,094	79,812	79,812
Grand Total	2,624,604	1,570,533	1,570,533

With these cuts, there will be no local school-based awards or field trips and no state or local staff development. There will still be some school instructional allotment, which along with PTA funding, could be used for some awards and field trips. Staff development can be provided by the Instructional Facilitors and Curriculum Coaches. These 2 classes of employees will each lose 1 month of employment, but the months will be staggered through the year, so they will be available for summer staff development.

Mr. Logan repeated his warning that 2011-12 will be even tougher - this year and next both include about $3.5M in ARRA (Federal Stimulus) funding, which will not continue in 2011-12.


The prioritized list of what to add back (if funds become available) is:
1. capital funds for technology (to replace aging laptops at CCHS and NHS)
2. Mandarin Chinese at Horton 22k
3. Staff Development funds
4. Employer's share of Dental insurance 316.5k

[munn5]

There will be a short special board meeting this Thursday, March 11, at 6pm at the Central Office for the board to review and approve the detailed budget that will go to the commissioners on Monday.

The budget process is just that, a process. Chatham starts this process earlier than most districts. As the state knows more (particularly after April 15), they will pass information down to the districts. So, the total state funding could be more or less than we currently expect.

[Triple A]

Ms. Munn,

THANK YOU SO MUCH for ALL that YOU DO for the children of Chatham County!!!  Your information is invaluable.  My intent was to be at the meeting March 1st but something happened last minute.  I have sent an email to the board members sharing my concerns.

Do you have any thoughts on why the board is not looking at cutting more positions at the county office level?  I realize that all cuts will affect the children but cutting at the county office level will not affect the kids directly like some of the other cuts will.  I am just trying to understand some of the logic.  Any input you could share would be appreciated. 

As long as all goes as planned, I do plan on attending the meeting Thursday. 

THANKS AGAIN for ALL that you do!!

[munn5]

You can look at Central Office staffing in several ways: proportion of total salary, number of positions compared to comparable districts, etc. I have not had time to run the numbers since scenarion C.3 from this Monday. The previous version cut central office salary by a little more than the current proportion of total salary. I suggested that fact be publicized when I spoke at the March 1 meeting. I also compared our staffing to Franklin County, which both George Lucier and Terry Stoopes (policy analyst at the John Locke Foundation) said was most comparable to Chatham. We have twice as many admin assistants and one more HR and Finance position than Franklin has (they have 10% more students). Mr. Logan does not think comparisons to other districts are valuable, and said that there are 8 districts more comparable than Franklin. He gave me that list (Haywood, Carteret, Davie, Edgecombe, and particularly Pender, Richmond, and Vance) this Monday. I will try to run some comparisons to those districts this weekend.

There was a successful effort to save Instructional Facilitator positions, which are central-office based. Because all state and local staff development funding is gone, the Instructional Facilitors will be able conduct classes for teachers during the summer and during the school year, as well as the other work they do (like curriculum and pacing guides). I think that was a good call.

I am concerned that we are exceeding in some areas (district psychologists and custodial staff for Pollard in particular) the staffing guidelines that the administration developed and the board approved one year ago. (Here is a link to the guidelines, in the meeting materials from the March 16, 2009 meeting http://www.chatham.k12.nc.us/board/meetings/2008-2009/03_16_09_boemtg/Agenda%20Item-Staffing%20Allocation%20Guidelines.pdf .)

This is not the final budget. The commissioners will weigh in, the state may change the funding levels after April 15, other things may change. So, if you have ideas, suggestions, concerns, don't think it is too late to share them.

[hulahoop]

I am concerned at looking at central office staff in exactly one way: what do they do to impact student learning?  Each position ought to be examined through this lens, and positions that don't increase student achievement ought to be cut before a SINGLE classroom teacher is cut.

[Triple A]

Ms. Munn,

You seize to amaze me with your information.  I would really like to meet you at the meeting tomorrow night! 

I am very aware and appreciate the fact that the BOE members have an extremely challenging task in front of them.  I did send an email with one of my biggest concerns, cutting teacher assistants which will directly impact the children.  I went into great detail as to why I am very concerned about this.  Mr. Hamm replied swiftly with an explanation and Mr. Leonard replied thanking me for my concern and letting me know that they would take it into consideration as the budget process continues.  I have not heard from anyone else but realize that they are busy folks. 

I (and I am sure many others as well) would LOVE to see the numbers publized.  Was there any reason given as to why these numbers aren’t already publized?  If Mr. Logan does not think it is valuable to compare our district to others then why did he list several other districts that he considered to be more comparable? Did he explain how those counties are more comparable than Franklin?  I will be VERY interested to see the comparisons when and if you get to them. 

I will be the first to tell you that I do not have the answers to solve the budget crisis we are in.  I will tell you that as a former Chatham County Educator and the parent of three children in Chatham County Schools, I am extremely concerned about cutting positions at the school level that directly impact the children.  I have a very difficult time understanding why that is even being considered when only two positions at the county level are being considered.

Another concern I have is the Chatham Record/News quoting Mr.  Logan, “Teacher and principals value the services of instructional facilitators and place them higher than teacher assistants."   Regardless of whether or not this was taken out of context, it is causing unnecessary tension between some teachers and some teacher assistants. I have a hard time believing that the majority of the teachers feel that the instructional facilitators are more valuable than teachers assistants. 

I look forward to seeing you at the meeting tomorrow night!

THANKS for ALL that YOU do for the children of Chatham County!

[Snowball]

What are the duties of an instructional facilitator and/or a curriculum coach?

[Chathamoriginal]

I was at the first of the Budget Advisory Committee meetings (unfortunately was unable to attend the other two) and I was the one who brought up the Central Office positions. As we went through a litany of possible reductions it dawned on me that everything on the board was from the classroom. We had gotten to number 15 and I looked around the room and it dawned on me...almost everyone in the room was a county schools employee save myself and IIRC one other parent. So, if you're a county schools employee on a budget advisory committee and many of you are looking at your positions on the board as being a possible point of reduction, you are not in a very good position to ask the central office staff in the room to look in the mirror. So I did it. Number 16 on the list became, "Central Office Salary and Position Review". To be frank, some of the C.O. admins in the room bristled at the thought, one stating, "You better be sure of what you're asking for here!", and another extoling that Chatham Co's. ratio of admin salary to other staff salaries are among the lowest in the state. Thankfully though they did include C.O. salaries on the review.

Personally I think there is fat and overlap in the central office and those type of functional reviews would have to come from and be pushed by the school board. Kind of like Congress voting term limits for themselves. Isn't going to happen and neither is a comprehensive review of staff reduction if the central office has to perform said review on themselves. That's not meant to be derogatory. Its simply a fact of human nature and the instinct of self preservation. And I will state that I believe the advisory committee was put together with the best of intentions. However, the lack of diversity in the room, and diversity meaning non-county emplyees, leant the process to not being all it could be at the outset..

[munn5]

I was at the first of the Budget Advisory Committee meetings ... I looked around the room and it dawned on me...almost everyone in the room was a county schools employee save myself and IIRC one other parent.

This is a very common occurrence, and why I try so hard to be at all the board meetings - there have been a lot of meetings where I was the only non-school system employee in attendance (or at least the only one to stay beyond the "Good News" where kids/programs/teachers are recognized).  As Mr. Logan says at the start of every school board meeting, "Our system of public education depends on community involvement."

This is one area where the citizens of Chatham County are FAILING our kids - if no one comes to board meetings, hearings, budget meetings, Raising Achievement task force meetings, etc., except school employees, then they get the message loud and clear that the community does not care what they do.

It is very hard for a school system employee to question what the administration is doing. That was the most common comment I heard while running for school board, teachers and other employees telling me they feared for their job if they spoke up. WE have to be their voice, and question, because asking questions and demanding answers make people think, and thinking people make better decisions.

[munn5]

What are the duties of an instructional facilitator and/or a curriculum coach?

Curriculum coaches are school-based, and I think do more hands-on work with teachers in individual classrooms. Instructional facilitators are central-office based, and do more across the board planning, such as pacing guides.  Both conduct professional development for teachers. (I think - someone please correct me).


From the DPI website http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/work4ncschools/employment/jobdescrip/curriculumjob.pdf
The curriculum-instructional specialist is defined as one whose primary concern is the improvement of learning opportunities through the provision of instructional leadership. The supervisor, as the instructional or program specialist, has the role of decision-maker, consultant, and specialist in advising administrators, teachers, and other professional personnel. Responsibilities include curriculum development, instruction, and staff development. The curriculum-instructional specialist serves as a member of a management team charged with the responsibility for planning, implementing, and evaluating an educational program relevant to the needs of the student population in a school and/or school system. (Information obtained from program competencies outlined for Institutions of Higher Education program evaluations

Plans for and supervises curriculum development and implementation, and the provision of centralized instructional services; supervises and directs the work of subject coordinators, specialists, and resource teachers. Provides advice and counsel for teachers and principals on matters pertaining to instruction. Plans and implements staff development programs for school staffs.
Typical Tasks (illustrative only)
• Directs the planning, development, field-testing, and evaluation of curriculum;
• Manages the textbook adoption process;
• Directs the publication and provision of division-wide instructional-related staff development, including in-service training designed to support implementation of newly developed curricula;
• Contributes to the proposal and implementation of college courses to support curriculum development or program implementation;
• Supervises preparation of curricular content for instructional materials catalog;
• Supervises development of instructional guidelines, policies, regulations, and official notices;
• Interprets statutes and regulations for staff and community;
• Manages the preparation of office budget requests and monitors expenditures.

[Chathamoriginal]

Mia, Unfortunately this was an "invited" advisory committee and again, though I know the intentions were good, the end result was a room loaded with CCS employees who were in a precarious position. Really needed more "layperson" input. And to note, I have voiced what I have written here with Dr. Logan.

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