Print this story | E-mail story | This story has 24 comments Add your own | iPod friendly
20 teachers could be cut in ISD 544 budget moves
Published Friday, February 29, 2008
Jerry Ness
Fergus Falls administrators say as many as 20 teachers could be placed on unrequested leave this spring as the district looks to trim next year’s budget by $2.36 million.
The news came during a district-sponsored forum at Fergus Falls Middle School Thursday night. Superintendent Jerry Ness said the identities of those teachers will be determined once staff decide what courses will be available next year. The ALC and high school will lose eight full-time equivalents, grades six through eight will lose 5.5 full-time equivalents, and grades kindergarten through fifth will lose six.
“I can’t tell you teachers, names, those kinds of things,” Ness said. “We have to follow state laws and statutes.”
This means the names of teachers placed on unrequested leave will be announced at the last school board meeting in March and finalized at the first meeting in April.
The district will also make cuts to non-instructional staff, including a counselor and payroll assistant.
“Our hearts are just sick as to how we’re going to deal with all these cuts,” Ness said. “We’re losing good people and that’s just heartbreaking.”
Budget cuts will also affect areas like technology purchases and activities fees, which will raise from $100 to $200 at the high school level. All of these are part of the district’s effort to get out of statutory operating debt (SOD) in the next few years.
Fergus Falls is not the only school district facing this negative financial situation. Dr. Charles Speiker of the Minnesota Department of Education said he’s working with about 18 public and five charter schools in SOD this year. Speiker spoke at the start of Thursday’s forum, reiterating the factors that put Fergus Falls in the red: less state funding from the state than in previous years, declining enrollment and rising inflation.
The good thing about SOD status, Speiker said, is that it stops the spiral of deficit spending and overborrowing that makes a district’s financial situation worse with each year. The goal is not only to get the district out of debt, but to have enough money in the district’s fund balance to accommodate any unexpected costs or changes to state funding in the coming years.
When the Fergus Falls school board submitted a plan to the Department of Education last month, it outlined the ways it would restore the district’s financial health, beginning with cuts of $2.36 million this spring.
Statutory operating debt does not mean the state is going to take over the district, Speiker said.
“There is light at the end of this tunnel — there is life after SOD in Fergus Falls,” he said. “It’s black but it doesn’t stay that shade very long.”
Ness used the second half of Thursday’s forum to discuss construction across Fergus Falls schools — projects intended to make the district more efficient and save the cost of running old, expensive buildings. The plan, Ness said, is to have all of the pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students in their permanent locations next fall: pre-K and kindergarten will be at McKinley, first and second graders will be at Adams and third through fifth graders will be housed at the newly-renovated Cleveland.
In an effort to speed up construction at the new secondary school, sixth through eighth graders will not be at the middle school next fall. Sixth graders will attend Eisenhower — with access to the pool, music rooms and gymnasium at the middle school — while seventh and eighth graders will be located in the C wing of the high school, operating under separate class and lunch schedules than students in grades nine through 12.
The district is committed to making the school year go as smoothly as possible for students, Ness said.
“We’ll go above and beyond to make sure we provide quality education during the transition,” he said.
Comments
The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by justme (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 7:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
And you wonder why we open-enroll.
Posted by oh_its_you (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 8:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is terrible, how can we keep cutting teachers and making sports/activities for the elite and not everyone...I really am disappointed in this school district, if it were this bad we should have been voting on an operating levy and not on a new school. Oh well, at least out schools will look nice from the outside!
Posted by Mel (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 9:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
20 of how many total?
How many subjects to be cut?
Posted by Lala (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 9:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
No wonder why the kids are having so much trouble learning in school!! My son has almost 30 kids in his elementary class, there's no way the teacher can work one on one with the kids when there's that many in a class room at once!
And it sounds to me, by this story, that next year will probably be even worse??? What is this town coming to??
Posted by mgdbottled (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 9:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Cut the admistrators first and counselors first. There's no reason a teacher can't teach and administer and counsel. That's the way it was done in the old days. Then cut the extra curricular activities, if necessary. Keep the teachers at all costs. I sat on our local school board for a four year term objecting to the hiring of three principals, counselors and staff and other unnecessary expenditures while laying off teachers, but ended up getting overruled. Same financial problem here. The way these schools are administered is just plain crazy. Voters need to take notice and not elect people to the school boards that just rubber stamp the administrators decisions.
Posted by davidldavis (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It's no wonder our kids go to different schools because the teachers in Fergus will not give them any time when they are having problems. Alot of kids go to the private schools and they ACTUALLY learn, in Fergus High it's to run them through the mill and get it over with. I agree we don't need three prinicpals and counselors. Cut it from the top, make smaller classes and let the teachers do the job they were taught to do.
Posted by OldHippy (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 11:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Fewer kids continue to be the problem. In this town there has been way more dollars invested in Senior housing, nursing homes, etc., than will ever be spent on schools\education. That should tell us something. We have a lower student population as a percentage of the school district general population than almost anywhere in the state. Our school problems are due to the makeup of Fergus as an aging, retirement community. Sadly, it will probably continue this way.
Posted by thethinker (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 11:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There is a direct connection between education and criminal activity - as in , the more educated a person is, the less likely they are to commit crime. So if we are not funding our education system we are lowering the education level of the yute's (said like Vinnie). When crime begins to rise we will hire more law enforcement officers to keep pace with crime. This will add more people to the prison system. The USA has more people in prison then any other nation on the earth. More than China (1/6 of the world population), or India (close to another 1/6 of the world population), or even Russia (more people than the USA). Prisons are big business. Why else would private companies seek out govt contracts to create secure prisons? They get paid huge sums of $$$$$ to make incarceration facilities. People want criminals off the streets so they will pay higher taxes to get more prisons built.....hmmmmm.....
I am stunned by the reported shortages in the school budget. Something is seriously wrong here.
Posted by werty (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 11:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There has been a rash of poor decisions with the FF school district over a long period of time. The district needs to stop pointing fingers and work on solutions. We all know the school has condition issues but who let it get that way? The people running to school now are not to blame since issues have built up over time but they don't make any progress either. The school then complains about losing kids to Underwood. Well it's no wonder with things like this happening all the time. A new family coming to FF would be able to easily see why parents send kids to Underwood vs FF.
Posted by jud (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 11:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How many district employees collect a paycheck from #544 and send their children to private schools here in Fergus falls ??????? Cuts could be done there!
Posted by toad3 (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 1:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Start cuts at the top, principals, counselors, activities directors. How many do we need, less students and more admin. How about some pay cuts at the top!
Posted by eripsni (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 1:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Jease, it sounds like there will be a lynching the way some of you are speaking!
Ness is earning every penny with the harassment he is taking about this (a problem he did NOT create but must fix).
Do you know why there is such a problem? it's because people refused to act while they had the chance. For YEARS there was a chance to update the schools, pay for new teachers, etc. But the voters of Fergus Falls decided that it was not worth it. So what happened? People started sending their kids to places like Underwood (modern technology, smaller class sizes, etc.). Less kids in FF = less dollars = more budget cuts = worse schools = less economic draw to Fergus Falls = downward spiral...
It's the VOTERS of Fergus Falls that have done this to themselves by not supporting the district when they had the chance.
Posted by upeoplernuts (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 1:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Inspire- for once I agree 100%.
Posted by lenny (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 2:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yes it’s all the voters fault. It had nothing to do with a top heavy administration and exorbitant salaries for those who tell others what to do and shuffle papers. It’s the taxpayers fault, not the sports programs that emphases a strong back and a weak mind. It’s the redneck citizens fault because they refused for years to spend money on building projects that have absolutely nothing to do with education. It’s everyone’s fault except a school board that never got out of high school and still sleep in their letter jacket, and dream of being prom King and homecoming queen, and view the administration as a father figure.
Posted by concerned08 (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 2:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Lenny there are so many things wrong and ignorant about that statement I don't know where to start. What school board members "never got out of high school" I'm not sure who you are referring to there. The building project having nothing to do with education. That's interesting. Last I checked all those students were getting off the bus and walking into a building. A building is not the foundation for an education but it certainly serves as a pretty good platform. The district recognized years ago that some buildings, the high school specifically, were a drain on the general fund. Something needed to be done that to avoid large cuts down the road. Guess what, we are down the road and we are having to make large cuts because people like you did not support what needed to be done. And now you are complaining about something that you could have prevented. When is the last time that you actually got involved in your community.
On with the rest of your comments. Extra curricular activities have a place in an education. I'm guessing you weren't involved in them so you probably wouldn't understand the discipline, brotherhood (and sisterhood), and work ethic that are learned in these activities.
As for the top heavy administrators...I think I can actually agree with you on that one. They get paid too much and our teachers are the ones taking the hits.
Posted by duke12 (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 3:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This school district is BANKRUPT, another word for Statutory Operating Debt (SOD). This situation is due to bad management of past and present administrators and business managers.
Posted by lenny (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 3:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Concerned08, I really don’t care if you agree with, or understand my post. I’m tired of arguing the same points to apologists for the school system. You don’t understand and never will. Fine. There are many, many others who do, and know the truth.
Posted by AndyMosity (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 3:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
...as I watch Fergus Falls slowly circle the drain...
Posted by Vampire (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 3:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Lenny you are so right, just wait and see, they will do the same thing to the new school as they did to the old one. Instead of spending money on maintenance, Ness will get a pay increase and some more support staff, they will add a hockey rink and a swimming pool. Then after a few years they will be right back to the tax payers for a new building because the new one is falling down, and people like concerned and eripsni will be right there as cheerleaders for the system.
Posted by steve1955 (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 3:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think some of the recient posts are from school board members and people in Ness office.
Posted by toad3 (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 7:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Steve, you could be right!
Posted by ffmomtoone (anonymous) on February 29, 2008 at 8:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I should feel relieved to conclude I'll never figure out ISD #544's logic when making cuts. How about all the secretaries employed by the district? I've never counted the number on the school's website, but I know there are a great deal of them. What about kitchen staff? Doesn't fewer students equate to fewer meals served? Why do we need the same number of people to serve less food? I guess it's easier to go to the bottom and cut the custodians for the third year. I wonder if administration will see the need to keep a new building clean once it's completed. Worse are teachers. I wonder how many good teachers will move to other towns...along with their kids. Whoops! There went some more money. We know they won't stay because where are they going to find a good paying job in this town? Maybe administration could just call it good with the elimination of a principal position. Why do we need to add back another assistant? Add back another teacher instead. People lose their jobs but the higher-ups can't buck it up and work a little harder for their salaries? Times are tough. At least you have jobs! Switching gears, an increase in the cost of all-day kindergarten was mentioned at the public meeting. Do you suppose the administration has compared their proposed cost of all-day kindergarten with area private schools? Are we going to lose even more students when for a little more money a parent can enroll his/her child in a private school without the worry of large class sizes? I'm afraid ISD #544's worries are far from over.
Posted by concerned08 (anonymous) on March 1, 2008 at 11:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Speiker spoke at the start of Thursday’s forum, reiterating the factors that put Fergus Falls in the red: less state funding from the state than in previous years, declining enrollment and rising inflation.
Posted by bandgeek6 (anonymous) on March 3, 2008 at 9:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree that we need to stop cutting teachers. Already I have 41 kids in my biology class. That is absolutely ridiculous! Whatever happened to the good old days when I had 23 or 24 kids in my class? We hardly get any chance to get things done because it's so many kids to try to keep control of. I really don't know what should be done except that it should be done fast! And what's with putting the 7th and 8th graders into "C" wing of the high school? Do they really expect that putting that many kids into a school meant for only four grades will work? Basically next year and the years following will be chaos. Absolute chaos.
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)