School district to eliminate 1 position due to budget constraints

After “shaking out” the cuts and retirements taking place in the Springfield School District for the upcoming year, the school district has a singular notification to make regarding a reduction in force (RIF) for the equivalent of one school staff position, according to Superintendent Zach McLaughlin.

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2017-03-22 / Front Page School district to eliminate 1 position due to budget constraints by TORY JONES DENIS toryd@eagletimes.com SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — After “shaking out” the cuts and retirements taking place in the Springfield School District for the upcoming year, the school district has a singular notification to make regarding a reduction in force (RIF) for the equivalent of one school staff position, according to Superintendent Zach McLaughlin. McLaughlin said at a regular school board meeting on Monday, March 20 that one support teacher position at a Springfield elementary school would be affected by the upcoming RIF. The district hopes to retain the affected employee somewhere else in the district, but that may depend on seniority, according to McLaughlin. In the event the district is unable to keep the individual, the school board needs to notify him now of the potential RIF due to the budget, McLaughlin said. An RIF is the “layoff of a classified employee from employment due to lack of work, lack of funds, or otherwise pursuant to management rights,” and RIF’ed employees may have certain reemployment rights, all according to the Vermont Department of Human Services (VDHS). Any cuts to staffing will impact Springfield students, although the district tries to compensate, McLaughlin said. “When we make cuts, there are things kids don’t have,” he said. “We will do the best we can to continue to provide students with what they need.” “It’s not an easy choice, it’s not an ideal situation,” School Board Chair Ed Caron said. A position at Union Street School is being eliminated due to cuts, he said, and there may be a shift in staffing between schools. The elementary school administration has looked at all student needs, and made a decision regarding the needs of those with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Some of those needs are not being met “on comparative levels” to other students, he said. Given the resources available, a “shift” in staffing would fill that need in special education, said Director of Fiscal Services Steve Hiers. It would have been “great” to add a special educator and also keep the position being eliminated, but the district could not take that approach, due to budget cuts, McLaughlin said. The school board voted all in favor to go ahead with the RIF recommendation. The RIF may not come as a surprise to residents following the budget process over the past several months, as cuts were forecast in the proposed 2018 SSD budget presented in November 2016. Work on that budget was completed before incoming Gov. Phil Scott proposed, in his January budget address, level-funding the following year’s education budget. The 2018 budget proposal, available on the district website, includes a letter from McLaughlin to the school board, the budget committee, and citizens, explaining that the 2018 budget follows the same trend as the past three budget cycles of “difficult judgements,” including staff reductions. “As costs rise and tax revenue flat line, we are in the unfortunate position of having to make strategic choices that cut back on our staffing. In the previous three budget cycles, the district has reduced its staff by 40 positions. This proposal would continue that trend,” the letter reads. This 2018 budget was expected to eliminate an additional 12 positions, according to McLaughlin. The cost to Springfield taxpayers comes down to three factors: The cost per student, the common level of appraisal of the grant list (CLA), and the yield on a dollar of taxation, as set by the state, according to the letter prefacing the budget proposal. With a student population anticipated to be down by 1.6 percent, a CLA remaining the same, and the “yield” dropping by $200, the budgetary increase was expected to be less than 1 percent, driving a 3.5 percent anticipated increase in the residential educational tax rate, all according to the forecast in November. At that time, the requested FY2018 total school budget was $29,335,336. Voters in Springfield approved, 741-590, a finalized annual school budget of $29,220,446 for the upcoming fiscal year. The next meeting of the Springfield School Board is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 3.