Barrington 220 Tries To Preserve Teacher Positions in Budget Cut Talks

Barrington School District 220 administration will soon put names to the numbers of staff members being cut as part of its $2 million budget reductions.

“The last couple of months have not been easy, now it’s going to get really tough,” said Dr. Tom Leonard, superintendent. “We have some really good people and I’m not happy we’re looking at the names,” he said at a March 8 special meeting of the school board. At the meeting, the board continued to discuss budget reductions in an effort to achieve a balanced budget for the 2011-2012 school year.

The current number of staff positions set to be released is 12.9. That number could change due to actual district enrollment numbers.

The majority of staff reductions are in support positions, non-certified staff.

For teachers alone, 7.4 positions are being eliminated. However, 5.6 will be added back in under the teaching category. That results in a net reduction of teachers of 1.8.

Teachers who are released can apply for the positions being added, explained Dr. Jeff Arnett, chief communications officer for the district, in a follow-up interview.

Arnett also clarified that some of those positions likely would have been eliminated, regardless of budget constraints, due to declining enrollment and attrition.

The school board worked to preserve teaching positions throughout the budget process.

At the meeting, Leonard stressed that he is more willing to give up ancillary items in an effort to keep teachers.

“I see potentially some very good, young teachers . . . Any dollar in FTE (Full Time Equivalency teacher position) would be more valuable than any dollar anywhere else,” Leonard said.

Leonard also noted that teachers who are released could be hired back.

Tuesday’s meeting was open for public comment, however there was very little.

Mary Stec, Prairie Middle School library information teacher, asked the board to reconsider the elimination of the library assistant. She stressed that the position was important as the school navigates information technology. She said the support position allows her to help teachers and students navigate technology.

Board member Tim Hull asked the board to support adding the $30,000 library assistant position back into the budget, but the move was not supported.

Board members did add some cuts back to the budget, including stipends for staff, for band and orchestra. Leonard noted that there is some inequity in stipends across the district and he believes that stipends would be better addressed during teacher negotiations.

The board also supported Leonard’s suggestion to put  .2 English teacher at Prairie Middle School back into the budget.  This was due to a concern that the removal would have an impact on the team model at the school.

Arnett explained that the team model, in the middle schools, keeps a group of students with a group of teachers. Eliminating the .2 English teacher position would disrupt the team model because some students would have to go off the team for instruction.

The final budget reduction number was $1,999,135, at the end of Tuesday’s meeting. The final vote on budget cuts will take place at the Barrington 220 school board’s March 15 meeting.