Minneapolis School Board Firing Teachers Using Flawed Methodology Administrators still plan to violate the terms of the 2000 Better Schools Referendum Comment on this in our Message Board!
SCHOOL BOARD PATROL -- The Minneapolis School Board, which still hasn't finished dealing with it's $29,000,000 budget deficit, has recently fired 419 nontenured teachers, and they may end up firing up to 100 or more tenured teachers before they wrap up their budget discussions. This amounts to an approximately 9-11% cut of the nearly 5,000 teachers the district employed during the 2002-03 school year. The teachers being let go have been warned that this time, unlike in previous years, they probably won't be rehired at the beginning of the school year. Full text at: http://www.southhighsucks.com/flawedmplslayoffs.html Southsidesucks.com notes that, * the expected layoff of more than 500 classroom teachers is part of "the district's 'master plan' to cut $10,000,000 from the budget by increasing class sizes--in violation of the deal they made with voters in 2000." *the districts projects that in 2003-04 it will have to cut spending by $17,000,000 (3.5%) - by comparison to a budget of $484,000,000 in 2002-03 - presumably the operating budget - and will have about 1,400 fewer students (about 3%). The revenue lost due to declining enrollment is probably about $8,500,000 to $10,000,000 ($6,000 to $7,000 per student in state and federal aid). The low quality of education obtained by most MPS students seems to be the driving force behind the district's falling students enrollment. Cuts in services like bus transportation make the public schools an even less attractive alternative for some students / parents. And money spent on reforms like Small Learning Communities in the High Schools, which failed to improve student achievement in the middle schools, should be considered money wasted. A district with 50,000 students and an overall ratio of 20 to 25 classroom teachers per student could cut 60 to 75 classroom teaching positions without affecting the teacher to student ratios. The district's enrollment in 2002-03 was less than 50,000 and its referendum-mandated class size ratios range from 19-1 to 25-1. If the district plans to save $10,000,000 by eliminating more than 500 teachers, the net savings works out to less than $20,000 per teacher. The cost of salary plus benefits per laid-off teacher is probably closer to $30,000. But the massive layoff of teachers and other employees has will probably increase the districts employment insurance tax rate to the maximum. Assuming a 0.05% rate hike on the district's taxable payroll, assuming a total of $66,000,000 in taxable wages (3,000 employees X $22,000 in gross wages per employee), the increased unemployment insurance tax bill will come to $3,300,000. On the other hand, the district could probably eliminate more than 3% of its teaching and non-teaching positions without layoffs or firings that would increase the district's unemployment insurance rates, and the savings would be a lot closer to 3% of the payroll. -Doug Mann Educationright.tripod.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
