Schools zeroing in on 20 teaching positions

By Rebecca Mayer

The Lake Oswego Review, Jun 4, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

The Lake Oswego School Board cut 20 teachers plus an undetermined number of classified staff Monday. Board members said the scenario is not a worst case — in 2003, the Lake Oswego School District cut 25.5 teaching positions.

The recommendations were based on the state’s early May proposal of $6 billion for statewide K-12 education over a two-year period. The decision assumes a gap of $7.2 million in a $60 million budget. Final budget approval will be next Monday, June 8.

In implementing the new budget, the district staff recommended cutting nine positions to elementary staff, 3.5 positions at Lake Oswego Junior High School, 1.5 positions at Waluga Junior High School and three positions at each high school.

All but one of those 20 positions are temporary teachers. One probationary high school teacher at the high school agreed to take the reduction in force because she was planning on asking for a one-year leave anyway. She has 27 months within which she can come back to the position if it opens again.

“We’re not bringing them back and we want to,” said Superintendent Bill Korach. “Those are the positions that are now being worked on by the (Lake Oswego School) Foundation that is still trying to make a last serious attempt at trying to retain these teachers and keep our class sizes and electives the same.”

Additionally, one junior high teacher was transferred to an elementary school, and some contract teachers are impacted by a reduction in FTE or change of subject matter.

The teacher cuts will not affect class ratios dramatically. At the elementary school level, the first and second grade ratio is 1 to 24, third and fourth grade is 1 to 27, and fifth and sixth grade is 1 to 28.

The district will not cut physical education and music specialists or change high school administrative staffing. Action on building secretaries, educational assistants and facility operation employee reductions is delayed until the classified employees vote on whether or not to forgo a cost-of-living increase. The district should know the outcome of the vote by Friday.

The teachers’ association and administration has already agreed to cost-of-living freezes.

The board members said that it’s an unpleasant situation, but it’s better than worse case scenarios the district studied earlier in the year. As of two weeks ago, the district staff was working with all three estimates crafting budgets to fit each scenario. Previous state estimates were at $5.6 billion or $5.4 billion, which left the district estimating 50 teacher cuts.

“The cuts have been mitigated to the point that I’m pleased with what we have here,” said board member Curt Sheinin.

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit