Story posted Friday, January 29, 2010
Dist. 207 Scales Back Budget Cut Proposals
Maine Township High School Dist. 207 administrators will recommend a plan to the Board of Education this Monday, Feb. 1, that could save 40-45 teaching jobs and retain fencing as a varsity sport at Maine West.
The Board was originally expected to approve massive cuts that would have eliminated over 100 jobs, including 75 teachers, and made Maine West fencing an intramural sport. Since that announcement, staff and students have rallied, pleading with the Board to reconsider and even holding a protest outside Maine South last week.
The new recommendation announced Friday will ask the Board to approve using up to $2 million from reserves in both fiscal year 2010-11 and 2011-12. It is dependent, however, on the Maine Teachers Association union agreeing to a one year cost-of-living salary increase freeze. Teachers would forgo that 3.2% increase for the 2010-11 contract year.
Under the proposal, most teachers would still receive step pay increases based on years of experience and all would receive the 3.5% cost-of-living increase for the 2011-12 school year.
If the Board approves the new plan, the district and teachers union would have to reopen contract negotiations and agree to the terms.
As part of the recommendation, fencing at Maine West would also remain a varsity sport. The district said it would work with parents and students to lower the program’s costs in order to retain its varsity status and funding from the district.
“This movement reflects our Board of Education and administration listening to the parents, students, teachers and community members and once again trying to partner with the MTA to find solutions that will allow us to save jobs now and then take advantage of natural staff attrition. If we can work together and do this, we will be able to save a lot of teachers,” Dist. 207 Supt. Ken Wallace said in a press release sent out Friday.
“While this doesn’t solve our financial situation, it buys us some time to do long-term planning with various stakeholders to better position ourselves to deal with these difficult economic times going forward. In light of the difficult economic times that our communities are experienced, we hope this is a win-win situation,” Wallace continued.
Monday’s Board of Education meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Maine South auditorium.
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