A high-school counselor job and several English-teacher jobs are among the positions that will probably go unfilled in the coming school year, the State College school board decided Monday night.
With a unanimous vote, board members approved a $112.9 million tentative budget for the 2010-2011 school year. The budget includes the elimination of 18.25 jobs through attrition — but no layoffs — and should allow the board to raise property taxes no more than three percent, administrators have said. About 1,400 people are employed by the school district.
Final budget adoption is scheduled for June 28, with a public hearing slated for 7:30 p.m. on June 15 at 131 W. Nittany Ave., the district administration building.
‘The (budgeting) model was, everybody who has a job should keep a job,’ Superintendent Richard Mextorf told the board on Monday night.
The staffing cuts made through attrition should save the district about $1.25 million in the next school year, according to the budget. Roughly $2.28 million will be saved through other cuts and and budget shifts approved by the board, part of an overall effort to limit the tax increase.
On the staffing front, the overall attrition plan includes these provisions:
- The ‘team’ approach to grouping students at Mount Nittany Middle School will be modified. The number of teams will be reduced from seven to six, eliminating a split team that included both seventh- and eighth-graders. Teachers who had been assigned to that team will be redirected to other assignments within the district. Slower enrollment trends at the middle school have helped enable this change, which will affect seven positions, according to the district.
- Four curriculum-support teachers at the elementary level will be reassigned to classroom teaching positions. Elementary principals will take over responsibility for curriculum oversight and development, and a director of curriculum for kindergarten through eighth grade will be included at the district-wide level, according to the district.
- A high-school counselor position, being vacated by a retirement, will not be filled. The case load will be ‘realigned,’ according to the district.
- A vacant health-teacher position at the high school also will not be filled, along with a piano-teacher job. Two and a half English-teaching jobs will remain open, too, thanks to declining enrollment. A position for a Title I coordinator will be eliminated; those responsibilities will be shifted to elementary principals, according to the district.
In other news Monday night, the board agreed to hire a South Jersey- and Philadelphia-based law firm to review potential litigation against the Royal Bank of Canada. The firm, Montgomery, McCracken, Walker and Rhoads, is being paid no more than $12,500 for the review, which should help the board decide whether to pursue a lawsuit against the bank.
The board has a controversial and complex interest-rate-management agreement with the bank. The agreement began in April 2006, was extended in November 2007 and is likely to create a multi-million-dollar expense for the district budget.
Board members did not comment in public session Monday night on the potential for litigation. But a prepared statement released by spokeswoman Julie Miller reads: ‘ … the Board believed it was prudent to engage special counsel to take a fresh look at the situation and advise the board about its rights and obligations at this time. The Board intends to fulfill its contractual and legal obligations under the agreement as directed and advised by its counsel.’
Also Monday, the board heard plans for a public discussion about the future of Memorial Field. Architects handling planned overhaul at the landmark venue, at Fraser Street and West Nittany Avenue, will host a ‘community dialogue’ at 7 p.m. June 7 in the Mount Nittany Middle School cafeteria, district spokeswoman Julie Miller said.
‘They want to gather information about what the community feels is the best use’ for the stadium, Miller said. She said as many as 200 people may attend the gathering, where they will be divided into smaller groups for more personal conversations.
