on 7/1/04 9:00 AM, Mark Snyder at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> On 6/30/04 3:50 PM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> Board members say the bigger schools are more cost effective. Or could it be
>> that the district is simply able to cut more money budgeted for teachers by
>> closing the smaller schools? That would be the case if the average length of
>> service and salary of teachers who would be laid off at the small schools is
>> higher than at the bigger schools.
>
> I was under the impression that Minneapolis public school teachers enjoyed
> "bumping" rights through their contracts that would allow those teachers who
> have more service time to displace teachers with less service time when
> layoffs occur.
>
> If that's correct, then how would this save any additional money? Even if
> teachers at the small schools that get laid off make more money than the
> teachers at the larger schools, they could just bump their way back into a
> larger school and maintain their higher salaries.
When a school is closed the teachers at that school are "excessed,"
which means that they have the right to bid on an available opening in their
licensed area and in a program that fits their professional plan and
experience. They don't get to bump into anyplace they might choose. If the
district has too many excessed teachers, layoffs occur according to
seniority, creating availble positions, which excessed teachers can then bid
on. As you can begin to see, it starts to get complicated, and lots of
people start spending time interviewing to fill openings that are caused by
the layoffs, which will be in places other than the closed schools. Lots of
people and programs are rearranged when a school is closed. That is part of
the added expense that I have suggested was not included in the potential
"savings" of closing schools - and the process takes time and lots of
peoples' energy.
As a practical matter, a good number of the experienced teachers at the
schools that would have been closed would likely have taken early retirement
or moved to another district rather than go through the excess-interview-bid
process. Thus, we may save a couple of bucks in salary for the experienced
teachers, but we will lose their years of experience; we're not saving much.
>> The district hasn't actually come up with a detailed financial analysis to
>> show whether and why the small schools generally cost more to run per
>> student.
>> One of the selling points for small schools is that money saved in
>> transportation costs can offset higher operating costs-per-pupil related to a
>> smaller economy of scale. All other things being equal, the smaller the
>> school, the smaller the attendance area, and the more students you have
>> living
>> within walking distance or a short bus ride from the school.
>
> It's not that hard to figure out. Certain costs are fixed with regards to
> schools. You're going to need a principal and other administrative staff
> regardless of whether you have 80 students or 400. But spreading those costs
> over 400 students makes it cheaper on a per-student basis than spreading
> those costs over 80 students. So while it may well be true that having more
> smaller community schools can save on transportation costs, it seems either
> disingenuous or ignorant to suggest that "all other things being equal"
> because all other things are certainly not equal.
Another way to do it would be to put the principals and other building
specialist on wheels, spread them between a couple of buildings, and keep
the kids walking from their homes. That would be doing it for the kids.
>
> That's not to say I favor closing small schools.
I favor keeping as many small schools open as possible, for the kids.
Dan McGuire
Ericsson
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