By Doug Belden
dbelden@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 06/07/2011 10:21:29 PM CDT
Fifty-seven probationary teachers and other professional staff in St. Paul Public Schools will lose their jobs next year, the St. Paul school board decided Tuesday.
Probationary teachers are those in the first three years of service, before tenure kicks in.
The total is less than in previous years because 119 employees - 93 of them teachers - took advantage of an early retirement offer this spring. The plan, which offers employees 75 percent of one year's salary spread over five years, is estimated to save the district $1.2 million.
Of the 57 employees whose contracts are not being renewed, 22 were because of performance issues, said Tim Caskey, the district's executive director of human resources. The other 35 were for budget reasons.
Overall, the district is forecasting the elimination of 304 full-time-equivalent positions for 2011-12, but more than half of those - 167 - were funded with federal stimulus money as two-year positions and therefore expected to go away.
That left 137 positions funded with general-fund money that were potentially at risk of elimination.
Because it's unclear what will happen with all the jobs being vacated by employees retiring early, it's hard to say how many positions still must be eliminated after Tuesday's cuts, officials said.
It's also unknown whether any tenured teachers will lose jobs.
No tenured teachers were laid off in budget-cutting for the current school year, in which the district trimmed $27.2 million and cut 250 jobs. Those included 117 nontenured teachers, a nontenured principal and 132 clerical workers, educational assistants and teaching assistants.
For 2009-10, the district had a $25 million shortfall and eliminated 267 staff positions, 143 of them teaching jobs. One of those was a tenured teacher.
St. Paul Public Schools is proposing a $636.3 million budget for 2011-12, a 2 percent increase over the current year. The general fund - the main operating budget for the district - is up 1 percent, to $462 million.
Enrollment in the district is projected to drop by about 500 students, which translates into the loss of more than $6 million in state aid.
Projected revenues are $616.8 million, which leaves the district with a shortfall of about $20 million.
District officials added $5 million to the estimated shortfall to cover potential changes in state funding being negotiated at the Capitol.
Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton has vetoed the K-12 bill along with most of the Republican lawmakers' other budget bills. Dayton and Republican leaders are in the process of trying to craft agreements to avoid a state shutdown.
About half of the estimated $25 million shortfall in St. Paul Public Schools would be erased by using fund balances, one-time money and other measures, which means the actual amount of money the district has to find for next year is about $12 million, significantly less than in recent years.
Among the proposed cuts drawing heat from parents is a plan to save $1.9 million by implementing busing changes that will change start times by 40 minutes or more at schools across the city.
Information technology also is being cut by about $900,000, and the district's print/copy/mail center is being closed for savings of $81,000.
The school board is expected to vote June 21 on the 2011-12 budget.