A little more than a week ago, city school officials announced plans to stanch the Columbus Municipal School District’s financial hemorrhage by eliminating 59 teachers and support staff. At Monday night’s school board meeting, as sign-waving protesters watched, the board tabled a motion to add 10 more names to the list.
Interim Superintendent Dr. Martha Liddell defended the contract terminations at Thursday’s Columbus Exchange Club meeting, saying education should be managed like a business and the teacher cuts were a difficult but fiscally responsible measure.
Personnel constitutes approximately 76 percent of the district’s annual budget, and Liddell said it costs $1.5 million per month to pay the current roster of 390 certified staff members, which includes teachers, counselors, administrators, coaches and librarians.
The initial proposal of eliminating 59 positions — 54 teachers, three counselors, a coach and an administrator — would bring an estimated $2.1 million in cost-savings.
Previously, the district has dipped into its reserve funds to meet expenses, declaring a shortfall for the past nine years. Now, Liddell said, the reserve fund has dropped to $2.7 million, and the board of trustees will have to withdraw $1.7 million to finish out the school year.
The personnel reduction was limited to certified staff members with less than two years of continuous service.
Liddell said they had considered eliminating low-performing teachers, but before veteran teachers can be fired, they must be placed on an improvement plan and given the chance to rectify the situation, according to state guidelines. A survey of the district revealed only five teachers who met that stipulation.
“Nobody is picking on teachers; we love our teachers,” she said.
If reductions aren’t made, it will take a minimum 7-mill tax increase to fund next year’s budget, according to a five-page leaflet Liddell distributed.
“Our budget is so out of whack,” she said, adding that if the district continues to run a deficit, it risks being taken over by the state Department of Education.
If that happens, she said, the magnet school program — currently implemented in the district’s five elementary schools and Columbus Middle School — along with International Baccalaureate, Destination Imagination and other programs would likely be eliminated.
“I’m committed to keeping these programs, even if modified for budget reasons, but the Mississippi Department of Education won’t be,” she stated in the leaflet.
The speech wasn’t new information to one Exchange Club member, who asked to remain anonymous.
“I’ve heard all of it before,” he said. “… You’re hollowing out your tax base, and people aren’t moving here because of the school system.”
But he admitted he wasn’t sure what could be done to fix the district’s economic spiral.
Some teachers have offered to give up some of their contracted salary days and eliminate step-increases for a year, but the leaflet Liddell distributed said the situation is “much worse than many know” and that it would take every teacher in the district sacrificing three days in order to balance next year’s budget.
Columbus High School will bear the brunt of the cuts, losing 27 certified staff members.
Additional personnel cuts include Columbus Middle School, 10 positions; Cook Elementary Fine Arts Magnet School, nine; Franklin Elementary Medical Sciences and Wellness Magnet School, eight; Stokes-Beard Technology and Communication Magnet School, five; Sale Elementary International Studies Magnet School, three; Fairview Elementary Aerospace and Science Magnet School, three; McKellar Technology Center, two; CMSD Alternative School, one; and the district’s central office, one.
The district anticipates rehiring 20 to 35 teachers once state funding is finalized for the 2012-2013 school year. The 54 teachers whose contracts were not renewed will be eligible to reapply for those positions.
“We’ve got to be more efficient in what we do, because we’re going to have to compete,” Liddell said. “But to be competitive, we can’t be broke.”
At the conclusion of the meeting, Columbus resident Fred Kinder called Liddell “outstanding,” saying he is not opposed to teacher cuts, especially weeding out inadequate teachers.
“I was impressed with the fact that they know they have to bite the bullet,” Kinder said.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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