Preble Shawnee schools to cut 14 positions

Fourteen positions – mostly teachers from the high school ranks – will be cut when the school year in the Preble Shawnee Local School District ends in May, the superintendent said Tuesday evening.

Both he and the president of the local teacher’s union agree the cuts are a direct result of the still sluggish national and local economy, lost state funding for education and a decline in enrollment.

"We are in a program of right-sizing the school district right now because all of the things that are in play right now,” Superintendent Dale Robertson said. “We're trying to find the right number of employees for this district now that changes are taking place. I know that the fall off in state funding has been devastating to us as well as to many, many other districts in the state.”

Several budget cuts have been made for this year and next because of the lost funding.

“This time last year, we didn't know what the state drop off would be because they took a long time to give us accurate figures,” he said. “We were looking to cut ... in the neighborhood of $840,000 from a $15 million or $16 million budget for next year (2012-13).

“We had cut out more than $900,000 for the 2012-13 school  year, which was more than was needed because “we don't know how many special needs students we will have next year." The Ohio Revised Code dictates the number of teachers that are needed to adequately serve such students, he said.

The $900,000 in cuts translates to about 14 individuals. “The majority of them are teachers,” Robertson said, noting that a few of the slots include classified non-teaching personnel and one is an administrative position.

Robertson said declining enrollment also played a part in this latest round of layoffs. District wide, enrollment (pre-K through grade 12) is at 1,411. He said when he joined the district in 2001 as an assistant principal at the high school, district enrollment was 1,600.

The district laid off teachers/employees in 2004 or 2005, he said. "We went through a reduction in force this time last year. We're looking at three times at least since about 2004."

As bitter as the news is, Jennifer Taulbee said many of those who were told Tuesday that their job is lost knew the news was coming. Especially tough for Taulbee, president of the 70-member Preble Shawnee Local Education Association, is the fact that she teaches eighth-grade social studies at Preble Shawnee Junior-Senior High, the school she graduated from in 1992.

"This is a statewide issue. This is not a Preble Shawnee issue. This goes back to a General Assembly decision to cut funding," she said Tuesday night. "I've done my research and I've looked at the five-year forecast ... the expenditures are outpacing the revenues."

The district operates on an income tax levy, she said, and "when people aren't working, that affects our school funding as well.  We know a levy can't pass. People are out of work. I commend the administration for not going to voters, for trying to be responsible for the spending."

Taulbee worries about the larger class sizes that will come this fall because of the trimmed teaching staff.

"Some saw it coming, others were surprised. They're trying to stay positive. But how positive can you be when you're losing your job at the end of May? We're still going to go out there and do the best we can," Taulbee said.  "We'll pull together as we have in the past."

Robertson said the school year will end May 17, if the weather holds and the school calendar isn’t disrupted by calamity days. Those who will be laid off will be offered assistance with helping them find employment, he said.

Robertson said he anticipates a possible silver lining because there will be retirements and resignations next year. And those personnel movements could affect the reduction in force. But, he cautioned, “at this point, I only have rumors about those who say they will resign or retire. Until we have the letter [of resignation or retirement] in hand, it hasn’t happened yet.”