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May 6, 2009 11:28 pm US/Eastern
Broward School District Braces For Layoffs
Expect Dozens Of Teachers To Be Laid Off
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
Broward Schools Superintendent Jim Notter anticipates laying off at least 150 teachers for next school year.
Notter believes the combination of budget cuts, declining enrollment and teachers returning to the district from leave will mean layoffs. Broward's student enrollment is expected to drop by about 3,200 students next year and about 200 employees are expected to return to the district from leave.
Declining enrollment is expected to mean between 600 and 900 teachers won't be needed at their current schools. They will be "surplussed" to schools with open positions. It's possible there won't be positions for all of these teachers, however.
"We believe in our organization in our human capital, so we're gonna maximize everything we can not to have people on a layoff list," Notter told
CBS4 News.
The Teacher's Union confirmed that hundreds of teachers have been notified that their current positions are being eliminated due to declining enrollment. Those teachers will be placed on a list for available positions at other schools. Teachers will learn on May 18 which new school they're being assigned to.
In addition, there are 200 or so teachers trying to return to the district after being away. In the past, Notter said, between 50 and 75 teachers would return to the district in a given year. "It shows the immensity and the depth of the economic recession, where people are now coming back to work in bigger numbers than before," Notter said.
The Broward Teacher's Union, however, believes the school district is not doing all it can to cut wasteful spending. The Union said more than 1,000 teachers responded to a survey about unnecessary spending in the district and came up with $100 million in savings.
For instance, the Union recommended conserving classroom resources, making changes in the way the construction facilities department operates and tightening up transportation. "Consolidating bus routes, making sure buses are filled at least to 50 percent capacity," said John Ristow, spokesman for the Broward Teacher's Union. "Many employees observed buses arriving with three students or less than five students, which really isn't a good use of taxpayer dollars."
Hector Varas teaches Spanish at Crystal Lake Middle School in Pompano Beach. He said he sees classrooms with unused computers and other unneeded expenditures. "At the end of the year you wind up with huge boxes of textbooks that have never been opened so let's revisit this," Varas said.
Varas went on to say teachers are on edge, wondering if they will be laid off. "Education should be sacred," Varas said. "Don't touch it because we are building the future."
Notter emphasized that the layoffs numbers are still a work in progress. The Union said the district is trying to find other dollars -- like federal stimulus money -- to make up any shortfalls.
The School Board on Wednesday studied
scaling back high schools to a four-day week as a way to save money on energy costs and other expenses.
School Board members decided against it. "To put parents and teenagers in a position where they're home alone a whole day, unsupervised? I think is ridiculous," said School Board member Robin Bartleman. "I think they need to be in school more, at five days a week."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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