The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Furloughs & Demotions 03/08/2012 School District of Lancaster ...

The Good, the Bad, and the UglyFurloughs & Demotions

03/08/2012

School District of Lancasterwww.lancaster.k12.pa.us

Matthew PrzywaraChief Financial & Operations Officer

Mark HolmanDirector of Human Resources

School District of LancasterInformation:Urban School District11,000 Students• 1,600 Staff

– 885 Teachers (1,000 in 10/11)– 24 Buildings

• 78% Poverty• 2,000 Special Education Students

– 51% of incoming students have an IEP

• 1,950 English Language Learners• Over 1,000 Homeless Students

(9% of Student Enrollment)• Growing refugee population (1.8%

of Student Enrollment)• 30% Tax Exempt

03/08/2012

The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs

Employee Expenses Other Expenses

68% Em-ployee Ex-

penses

46%44%

10%

State Local Federal

School District of Lancaster2011-12 Budget Outlook• Reduction of State Funding $7.5 MM• Flat Tax Base – ACT 1 Index of 2.0%

– Generates $1.2 MM of New Money

• Increased Costs:– PSERS– Healthcare– Utilities

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School District of LancasterProjected Deficit at March 2011

$10 MM

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SDoL Budget Situation

Balanced Budget

Fund Balance

Non-Mandated Programs

Mandated Programs

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How do we determine the reductions that need to take place in order to balance the budget?

Instructional Programs•Alternative Education•Art & Music•K5•Library

•Physical Education - (1-6 Only)•Pre K•World Languages (1-8 Only)High School Programs

•Academic Activities Mock Trial•AP / IB Honors Program•Campus Literary Publication•Campus Newspaper - Vidette•Campus Yearbook - Echo•Choral Music•Dance•Daycare for Teen Parents•Dual Enrollment•Future Access Center•Gospel Choir•Graduation•Instrumental Music•Middle States•Musical Production-Spring•School-to-Work•Student Activities•Teen Parenting•Theatre Production-Fall

Vocational Education Programs•Project Lead the Way Engineering Program•Vocational EducationAfterschool Programs•Completers Program•Enrichment Activities•TutoringSummer Program Services•Summer Programs•Summer School - Credit RecoveryAthletics•Athletics - Administrative•Athletics - High School•Athletics - Middle Schools (reduction)Co-CurricularInstructional Technology SupportCurriculum ServicesStudent Services•Drop out Prevention•Homeless Project•Other Pupil Personnel•Home School Visitor•Outreach•School-Based Mental Health•Social WorkParental InvolvementStaff DevelopmentCommunity Partnerships (reduced)Program Evaluation

Safety & Security Services•Safety & Security•School Resource Officers & Crossing GuardsOperational Appropriations•Business & Financial Services•Child Accounting•Community Relations•Federal Grant Administration•Human Resources•Information Technology•Operation & Maintenance•Printing Services (In-house)•School Board•Transportation•Warehouse

2011-12 List of Non-Mandated Programs

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Process for Determining Programmatic Reductions

• Evaluated cost within each program– Programmatic Budget– Staffing

• Superintendent (Cabinet Team)– Determined Non-Mandated Programs to discuss– Meetings with Principal Groups

• Elementary• Secondary

• Programmatic Reductions – Consensus?– Team Built

• 100 Teaching Positions were impacted– 10% of our Teaching Staff

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TimelineTask/Deadline Responsible Due DateERIP Final Mark Holman 4/26/2011Seniority Valuation & Placement Mark Holman 4/28/2011Vacancy Report Mark Holman 4/28/2011Cabinet Meeting Pedro Rivera 4/28/2011Board Approval of Program Reductions Pedro Rivera 5/4/2011Principal Meeting for Furloughs Pedro Rivera 5/5/2011Master Seniority Lists Mark Holman 5/6/2011Finalize list of affected staff Mark Holman/Matt Przywara 5/6/2011Staff Reduction Notices Mark Holman 5/6/2011Weekly Communication Kelly Burkholder 5/6/2011Staff Informational Meeting Mark Holman 5/9/2011Position Draft Mark Holman 5/25/2011

Drop Dead Date for Furlough Notification Mark Holman 6/17/2011

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So you need to reduce staff!There are few things to consider:1. Will you be able to cover your losses

through attrition?2. Are you close enough to offer an

incentive to get to your numbers?• If the answer to questions 1 & 2 are

yes, then my job is done, if no then we need to move on.


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Will you need to reduce or eliminate programs?

• Should you need to eliminate programs, there is a specific process outlined by the state.

• You must apply to PDE to Alter or Curtail programs.

• The application process can take several weeks or even months to complete. Your application must include a copy of the board minutes of the board action as proof to PDE that the board intends to alter or curtail a program.


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Alteration and Curtailment continued

• If your request for curtailment is denied you have 10 days to file an appeal.

• You must have your approval before you can proceed with the suspension of any employees.

• Keep in mind under the school code you must give professional employees notice of suspension 60 days prior to the start of your next school year.


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How many staff will you need to reduce?

• Each employee group has a different process for staff reduction

• The process for union employees is typically clearly spelled out in the collective bargaining agreements

• The teachers process is further defined in the school code

• Administrators have rules separate from teachers


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Will you need to close Schools?

• This is process that requires a lot of time and unfortunately to permanently close a school you may actually be too late

• This process requires specific notice and specific hearings, as well as permission from PDE

• Temporary closures are less time consuming and you would have enough time for closure this year


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Before you go any further, you must

answer a key question?


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Is your Data Clean?• Make sure your data is clean!• Do you know how many staff

members you have?• Do you know when they all started?• Are you sure you know who is

tenured and who is not?• Identify any known vacancies for

your coming school year


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Fix your Data issues now!• With clean data you can make good

accurate decisions• You can manage this process with

confidence• You can avoid legal and union issues


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Demotion Vs Furlough• Under the school code these are your

two primary tools• Demotions offer greater flexibility

and generally pose less risk• Furloughs or Suspensions as they are

referenced in the school code are more challenging and take a little more time


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Demotions• Essentially, allow you to reduce a

persons position, from fulltime to less than full time

• They do not require as much proof, documentation or time


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Furloughs (Suspensions)• Have much more restrictive rules• Do not allow you to target specific

individuals• The positions you eliminate may not be

the individuals who are suspended• Do not consider performance• Seniority plays a major role• Non-tenured staff are displaced before

tenured staff


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Furloughs (Suspensions) (Cont’d)

• Two ways to Suspend:

– Straight line

– Checkerboard


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Straight Line Suspensions• Only looks at staff within the area of

certification in which they are teaching

• If you are reducing 5 Spanish teachers the last 5 non-tenured Spanish teachers hired are the first to be suspended


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Checker Boarding• Looks at all areas in which a teacher is

certified• In the previous scenario, if you were to

eliminate 5 Spanish teaching positions• We would now look at the last 5 non-tenured

Spanish teachers hired and they would be the 5 that would be suspended, UNLESS! They had certification in another area and were more senior than a person holding that certificate


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Checker boarding (Cont’d)

• YES, if they held a certificate in another area, even though they never taught in that area, they could displace a less senior teacher


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Ready, set, STOP!!!• This is just a recommendation that I am

personally making. It’s a recommendation that I make from experience

• Meet with your labor groups to clearly discuss the process you intend to use to reduce staff

• This will greatly reduce problems down the road


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What are some common issues

• Who is most senior when two people are hired on the same agenda?

• First person named• First person that signed their employment

contact• Do you draw lots• It may be any of the above or none of these• Know the process, there may be precedence if

so explore the process and get it in writing so you both agree


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What did the SDOL do?• We met with our union to agree on a written

process• We used the checker boarding method of

suspension• We identified a listing of all of our vacant

positions that we needed fill based on known retirements and resignations

• The first persons affected were the teachers on emergency certificates (persons in high needs areas such as speech were not displaced), their employment was terminated


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What did the SDOL do? (Cont’d)

• We added the positions of those terminated to the pool of vacancies needing to be filled for the coming year

• Once we worked through the process to identify teachers who were going to be displaced. We put these displaced teachers into the vacancies to be filled for next year. Because we used checker boarding these displaced teachers could bump someone with less seniority in an area for which they were certified but never taught

• If we had more positions than teachers then our process would be complete. Additional vacancies would be filled by new hires


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• If we had more teachers than vacancies, then we would need to formally suspend these teachers. We ended up suspending 52 teachers in SDOL

• These teachers were all placed on a recall list in order of their seniority by each certification they held

• We opted to give both Non-tenured teachers as well as tenured teachers the right of recall. Please note, the right of recall is only required of tenured teachers


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• To date we have 13 persons who remain on our recall list

• Two employees took advantage of the summer to add areas of certification to their certificates. One was hired back and is doing an outstanding job

• Teachers on recall will remain on the list automatically for 2 years, after that they must send in a letter annually to retain their recall rights


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• If you offer a position to a fulltime position to a teacher on the recall list and they decline, they will lose their right to recall and can be removed from the list

• To cover your bases you should add these persons who decline recall to your agenda, and specifically note, the following employee declined recall and waivers their right to recall


03/08/2012

The UglyResidual Impact from Furloughs• 8 Months Later – Still in the process

– Continuous tracking of furloughed staff

• Not a pure savings– Unemployment Cost

• Unfair Labor Practices– Time & Money to initiate the process– Legal Costs

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Final Recommendation• Involve your Stakeholders Early &

Often– Principals need to be involved and

understand the process • Impact is greater to them

• Work collaboratively with your Union(s)

• Create and follow a prescriptive timeline– Will cost you time and money later!03/08/2012


Questions

03/08/2012

School District of Lancasterwww.lancaster.k12.pa.us

Matthew PrzywaraChief Financial & Operations [email protected]

Mark HolmanDirector of Human [email protected]

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Furloughs & Demotions 03/08/2012 School District of Lancaster ...

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