District 63 Cuts Jobs, Kills Gifted Program, Increases Class Sizes

East Maine School District 63's Board of Education voted to slash services, increase class size and eliminate the equivalent of 14 jobs Wednesday in an attempt to staunch its hemorrhaging budget. 

The board, which oversees schools in Des Plaines, Niles, Glenview and Morton Grove, also passed a resolution asking teachers to open their contracts and come to the bargaining table to negotiate future salaries.

In addition, it will eliminate the gifted program and reduce the staff of social workers, psychologists, reading specialists and speech-language pathologists.

As the roll call was taken, there was a flutter of activity in the full gym at Nelson School. People in the audience, many of whom were teachers, shook their heads in disbelief.

Board members express frustration

However, the board said its decision was not made lightly.

"I think it's important that everyone knows what research has been put into this," said board member Sheila Urban. "No school district should ever have to be put into this position. But realistically, everybody here knows that's not the case because lots of school districts are dealing with it. It's a horrible thing to do, but we have to do it."

But teachers and staff were upset—not only because many jobs are now in jeopardy and student services will be affected—but because some said they felt the move to increase class size was a power play that pressured them to bargain over their contracts. Some said they could be blamed for being selfish.

"I think increasing class sizes and holding it over the teachers' heads was not the way to go," said Hilary Liese, president of the East Maine Educators Association.

Task force recommended delaying some cuts

Most of the board's actions were recommended by a financial task force that has been reviewing the district's finances over the past few months with the goal of achieving "financial stability" for the next six to 10 years. The task force did not, however, favor a bump in class size or salary negotiations until next year.

"I don't know that we're all in this together because they didn't listen to what the task force had to say," said Liese, who was also a member of the task force. "The task force agreed we would discuss salaries and class size next year."

The task force made more than 20 suggestions for an estimated $3.58 million in savings—but only over the next two years. To stretch out savings even longer, the board  supplemented the recommendations by calling teachers to negotiate salaries and grudgingly increasing class sizes to 28 to 1 (elementary) and 30 to 1 (junior high).

"Increasing class size ratios just literally makes me sick to my stomach," said board member Janet Kaczkowski.

Equivalent of 14 jobs to be cut 

The board is also anticipating the loss of 14 full-time equivalencies (FTE), which are estimated to save about $700,000.

Some of the recommendations included the following:

• Changing bell times for an estimated $350,000 in savings
• Reducing literary specialists – $200,000
• Reducing social workers – $190,772
• Eliminating gifted program – $184,641
• Reducing speech-language pathologists – $159,769
• Reducing psychologists – $103,856
• Eliminating a disciplinary room at Gemini – $91,350

"Nothing can be said to make this okay with everyone," said board president Jane Wojtkiewicz. "We're required by school code to have a balanced budget. Unfortunately, these very carefully thought out and painful cuts barely accomplish that. We're not seeing where somebody's going to rescue us here, so we need to take responsibility and figure this out for ourselves . We're not going to let our kids flounder."

District needs $12 million in the bank to pay bills

The district's financial difficulties are projected to continue declining over the next few years because of the state-imposed property tax cap, rising costs and the ailing economy. If its current path remains unaltered, the district's fund balance will dip below $12 million—or three months of operating expenses—in the near future, rendering the school unable to cover its bills until the next time revenue is collected, which is usually a biannual payout of property taxes. District 63 needs at least $12 million in the bank in order to cover its expenses until the next paycheck.

The 2012 deficit is projected to be around $1.7 million, growing to $2.4 million in 2013.

"If you think about what it would take to balance the budget for next year, it would be equivalent to releasing all of the regular-education teaching staff at Nelson School," said David Bein, executive director of business services. He made it clear that he wasn't suggesting that, just providing an example.

Comments from staff members

Before the board voted, it heard comments from school staff:

• Moira Leahy, a gifted program teacher, voiced her concerns about eliminating the program:  "I understand the financial burdens. I feel that 'eliminating' is a strong word, though. I do believe these students need to be identified and that people should be aware they have a high ability. These students deserve to have their academic needs met."
• Brooks Nelson, social worker at Apollo School, stood with nine others and read a letter: "As social workers, we understand that cutting staff is a way to save money, and we don't think we should be immune to that. We do feel that cutting 3.5 social work positions this year and .5 last year—40 percent of the social working staff–seems to us unduly drastic and short-sighted… These drastic cuts will decimate our programs."
• Mandy Klezek, an occupational and physical therapy coordinator, said the state requires a certain number of therapy minutes each year:  "We need about 2.8 full-time positions to cover that for next fall. Cutting one to one-and-a-half of these therapists is going to mean that a significant number of minutes are not going to be met, and it's the law that we need them. I don't know what we're supposed to do."

Business Manager Bein receives certification

In other news, the board congratulated David Bein for receiving his certification as an administrator of school finance and operation. He was also named to the board of directors for the Illinois Association of Schools.