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Budget plan cuts 5.5 jobs at U-32

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EAST MONTPELIER – Several educators' positions could be in jeopardy at the U-32 middle and high schools as district officials look to hold the line on school spending next year.

A preliminary budget proposal unveiled Wednesday night would affect eight educators and eliminate the equivalent of 5.5 full-time jobs at the East Montpelier school, which serves about 800 students in six grades. Officials stress that the budget proposal is still in a draft phase and that no final decisions have been made.

U-32 Principal Keith Garrett said the proposed staff cuts were the only way to meet a school board directive that called for level-funding next year's spending plan.

"The board of directors asked me to provide them with a plan that would … bring a level-funded budget and would mean no tax increase for any of the five sending towns," Garrett said.

With the bulk of operating expenses tied up in salaries and benefits for personnel, Garrett said, position reductions were the only means to achieve the $575,000 in savings needed to meet the level-funding directive.

"Needless to say people are upset," Garrett said. "These are friends and colleagues of ours that are being affected. But there's also the concern about how this is going to impact students. It's going to mean less supports, less programs for kids."

Charlotte Hannah Bassage, chairwoman of the Washington Central Supervisory Union Executive Committee that oversees the central office for the six-school system, said the cost-cutting exercise at U-32 reflects a district-wide effort to tamp down spending.

Citing a Nov. 10 letter from Commissioner of Education Armando Vilaseca and Commissioner of Finance Jim Reardon, Bassage said level-funded budgets are needed to avoid severe increases in tax rates next year.

Dwindling state revenues, a decline in property values and dropping student enrollment, the administration officials said, could send rates soaring.

"We all know that the state is in an extremely tight period financially," Bassage said. "Almost every unit of state government has taken a hit and the governor and others have said that education needs to be a part of this."

Vilaseca and Reardon's letter, sent to every public school in the state, warned of a looming "fiscal storm" – the effects of which will require new efforts at "cost containment" at Vermont's public schools.

"(A)s the annual school budgeting season begins, it is essential to consider cost containment measures at the state and local level," wrote the commissioners, both members of the Republican administration of Gov. James Douglas. "Without such constraint, state property taxes will rise to unacceptable levels and school district budgets may be rejected much more broadly than we have experienced in recent memory."

School boards often draft level-funded spending plans at the outset of their budgeting processes to play out what-if scenarios. But Bassage said final budget proposals, due in January, are likely to include the elimination of positions across the six-school system. In addition to U-32, the supervisory union includes elementary schools in East Montpelier, Calais, Middlesex, Worcester and Berlin.

"We're between a rock and hard place," Bassage said.

The position reductions under consideration at U-32 include two para-educators, one special-education teacher, a half-time driver's education teacher, a half-time librarian, a half-time home economics position, and two half-time curriculum coordinators. Enrollment at the school has dropped from 900 to 800 over the past four years.

"The guiding factor in making these decisions is what choices would have the least impact on students," Garrett said. "Any of these choices has an impact on students, but I was looking for the least impact."

At the East Montpelier Elementary School, which has seen its enrollment drop from a peak of 270 to 257, administrators are considering the elimination of one teacher, one para-educator and one-fifth of a counselor's position.

Principal Roddy Cooke echoed Garrett's lament about staff reductions being the only immediate way to meet the level-funding goal.

"As I look at what we do and how to be fiscally responsible toward taxpayers in light of the economic situation, I'm shooting for a target, as requested by the state, to come as close to level-funding as I can," Cooke said. "Am I considering staff reductions? Yes. Is that where I want to go first? No."

Cooke said staff reductions necessarily impact class sizes. But higher student-to-teacher ratios, he said, don't necessarily mean poorer student achievement.

"I haven't seen any research that says student achievement is based on class size," Cooke said. "The number-one factor is the quality of instructors."

Cooke, in his first year as principal at East Montpelier, arrived at the school after working for 15 years in Oregon's public education system.

"I'm coming from a state where class sizes at the elementary level are at the 30-level," Cooke said.

Cooke said he likes small class sizes, and cites this state's low student-to-teacher ratios as one of his primary motivations in moving here. But intimate classroom settings do come at a price. Vermont spends on average about $13,000 per-pupil annually on education. In Oregon, the figure is closer to $7,000.

"Class size is important in a lot of aspects of teaching so I do see class size as important," Cooke said. "But the research does not suggest that class size is correlated to student achievement."

Garrett said the U-32 board has since revised its budget target, asking him to put together another draft that would add an additional $75,000 in spending. That goal, Garrett said, would still mean significant staff reductions.

"We're not going to be able to realize these targets without cutting personnel," he said. "Some positions are going to be eliminated."

Representatives from the local chapter of the teachers union declined comment on the potential position reductions. But Darren Allen, spokesman for the Vermont-NEA, said efforts by the Douglas administration to impose cuts at schools around the state strike at the heart of Vermont's education system.

"This is exactly what the Douglas admin hoped would happen," Allen said. "It is clear that they want to, under the guise of fiscal responsibility, force local school districts to make dangerous and unpalatable decisions. When you get beyond the numbers, which is the only game the Douglas administration plays, these are real programs that real students depend on for their education."