City schools plan would cut 80 jobs
Superintendent Jim Morse outlines a budget that is forced to deal with losses in state and federal aid.
By Kelley Bouchard kbouchard@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
PORTLAND — Eighty positions in Portland's school system would be eliminated by the $89.3 million budget that the superintendent proposed Wednesday night for the coming year.
The targeted positions are: 44 teachers, 22 educational technicians, six secretaries, five food service workers, two custodial or maintenance staff members, and one administrator. Nearly half of those positions are now filled.
Superintendent Jim Morse said nearly 42 positions would be eliminated through retirements, saving about $1.5 million in the budget that starts July 1.
Cutting the remaining 38 positions would save more than $3 million. Morse said none of those employees deserves to be cut.
"They're losing their jobs for no other reason than we just can't pay for them," Morse said to an audience of more than 150 people at Portland Arts and Technology High School.
Morse's $89.3 million proposal is $2 million less than the budget that the School Committee passed last spring for the current school year.
However, it's actually about $700,000 higher than current spending. A $2.7 million mid-year reduction was made in the 2009-10 budget.
Morse's proposal reflects a reduction in state and federal funding for 2010-11 that was expected to be about $6 million.
But on Wednesday afternoon, Gov. John Baldacci restored $20 million in education aid statewide because of higher projected state revenue.
School Committee Chairman Peter Eglinton said the committee will decide in the coming weeks how Portland's $1.35 million share of the additional state funding will be used.
Under Morse's proposal, the amount to be raised by property taxes is up $1.7 million -- 2.5 percent -- from $66.7 million for the budget passed last spring to $68.3 million in the coming school year.
The additional state money could be used to offset an estimated 22-cent increase in the property tax rate, which would add $44 to the tax bill on a $200,000 home.
"I'm looking forward to a full discussion about how this new funding will affect us," Eglinton said.
Steven Scharf, president of the Portland Taxpayers' Association, said Morse's budget is a good start.
"We would expect that the $1.35 million (in additional state aid) will be used to offset the tax burden rather than restoring positions," Scharf said.
Fifteen of the eliminated teaching positions in Morse's budget would come from the special education program -- recently the subject of a critical consultants' review that recommended cutting nearly 40 of the 239 positions.
Morse didn't discuss the consultants' report. However, he did note that Portland spends $10,875 to educate each of its 7,000 students, compared with $9,624 per student statewide, excluding special education costs. Including special education costs, Portland spends $19,248 to educate each student.
The audience applauded at the end of Morse's hour-long presentation, which highlighted efforts to improve the staff's accountability and students' performance. But not everyone was pleased with his proposal.
"The proposed cuts are too deep," said Kathy St. Clair, vice president of the Portland teachers' union. As alternatives, St. Clair suggested closing a school, reducing spending for athletics and cutting administration.
Melissa Burke, a parent of two Lyseth Elementary School students, including one who receives special education services, said, "I want to make sure the special education cuts aren't in conflict with special education laws."
Morse said he started with spending requests totaling $95.6 million.
Reductions other than personnel cuts included $800,000 for health insurance; $316,000 for food services, $250,000 for transportation; $200,000 for high school freshman sports; and $188,300 for middle school sports.
The freshman sports program would be absorbed into the junior varsity program. Teams from the city's three middle schools would compete among themselves or through other youth sports programs in the city.
A public hearing on Morse's proposal will be held at 7 p.m. Monday in the Hall Elementary School gym.
Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be reached at 791-6328 or at:
kbouchard@pressherald.com
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17 COMMENTS
dfghdfghdfgh said...
Cut the sports programs and food service staff...great idea. Hey, maybe sign a contract with McDonalds and Coke for food service. Eat more, exercise less.
March 4, 2010 at 5:06 AM Report abuse
heyjoe said...
Cut 80 more jobs and call it a start!!!!
March 4, 2010 at 5:22 AM Report abuse
Since1710 said...
Why no cut all 80 jobs out of special ed. We have been spending our money to educate people who are far too stupid to be educated for the past thirty years. What do we have to show for it? Welfare bums who are trained by the schools to mooch forever in their own Section 8 housing. Let the families of these people support them; they made them. If the left wing nuts feel strongly about the issue, let them donate a few grand to each student.
March 4, 2010 at 6:56 AM Report abuse
middleone said...
Since1710: Since the 1970's there has been a federal law that requires all public schools to educate ALL its children. Every child is entitled to a Free Appropriate Education - (FAPE). The vast majority in special education are students with mild - moderate disabilities that spend most of the time in mainstream classes. The special ed service is to give "special" instruction in academic areas that can't be done by the classroom teacher. There is no legal way to cut special ed from the budget. To not include it would be to discriminate against a group of students. Providing appropriate instruction to all students is also the moral, ethical thing to do - whether it is the law or not. Your comment is absolutely hateful.
March 4, 2010 at 7:06 AM Report abuse
OldGuy said...
If Morse really cared, he'd bite the bullet and cut his own job. As Mark Twain once aid, "It's easy to endure adversity -- another person's adversity."
March 4, 2010 at 7:06 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
I smell a potential class action civil rights law suit in the making.
March 4, 2010 at 7:13 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
One school board member talked about the importance of "equity" of the cuts and yet special ed which is 18% of the budget takes almost 50% of the cuts.. can one say discrimination???.
March 4, 2010 at 7:17 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
One school board member talked about the importance of "equity" of the cuts and yet special ed which is 18% of the budget takes almost 50% of the cuts.. can one say discrimination???.
March 4, 2010 at 7:18 AM Report abuse
umpy said...
Since1710 people wonder whats wrong with this country listen to this Idiot ! He thinks everyone on welfare is a bum what a morron !!!! He's probablly one of those 70% of the people the Republicans keep talking about !! What a IDIOT !!!
March 4, 2010 at 8:08 AM Report abuse
xmainer said...
Why are there so many special education students today? When I went to school in Maine the 70s there were only a few special ed kids, and many more of the rest of the kids graduated able to actually read, write and do arithmetic. Fast forward to 2010 and it sure seems like throwing money at this problem is a waste of money, or people really are getting dumber in just a few generations. Or maybe PARENTS used to do a better job. Whatever the reason, I can understand why some people object to spending "the sky is the limit" amounts of their money for poor results. They do in my state too.
March 4, 2010 at 8:19 AM Report abuse
common_cents said...
Once the Democratic legislature decided to allow public schools to bill Mainecare for school counseling, ed. tech, and other services delivered to students with behavioral problems; then the door was opened to a major expansion of the special ed. empire. It started with an expansion of the low end counseling specialties eligible for reimbursement, a liberalization of the criteria for a special ed. label, and a lack of strict oversight on the part of DHHS over the value and delivery of services by the public schools. Obviously, this has grown so much that many classrooms have one or more ed. techs; and a lot of students now have one-on-one supervision. Education??? who knows?? DHHS reimburses the schools and many schools once viewed the counseling/ed. tech programs as profit centers. Morse is brave to tackle this empire; perhaps he really has no options left?
March 4, 2010 at 8:52 AM Report abuse
homeboy said...
If there is an additional $20 million, why would Portland receive $1.35 million of that total? Don't you think that the rest of Maine is going to scream bloody murder about that system of redistribution?
March 4, 2010 at 9:06 AM Report abuse
Mase said...
To Since1710: Your comments would indicate that you are far more handicapped than any student receiving special ed services.
March 4, 2010 at 10:32 AM Report abuse
charles said...
This isn't all bad folks. The fact that the state is going to now throw more money into the pool in my opinion does not help much. As for sports cuts, its high time some of the programs in the middle schools were reviewed. They are poorly run. They need to keep any sport such as field hockey, track that does not have an alternative in the community. Basketball in middle school should be extramural, based on the 6th grade model. More Kids get to play and at the end of the day its probably a lot chepaer than running an 7th and 8th grade team that benefits very few children and rewards the coach with a nice stipend
March 4, 2010 at 10:44 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
"homeboy said... If there is an additional $20 million, why would Portland receive $1.35 million of that total? " Because we took the lion's share of the HIT, perhaps???
March 4, 2010 at 1:29 PM Report abuse
henryelm said...
"Why are there so many special education students today? When I went to school in Maine the 70s there were only a few special ed kids..",Because special ed didn't exist yet and kids were still in institutions then.
March 4, 2010 at 1:33 PM Report abuse
henryelm said...
"common_cents said... Once the Democratic legislature decided to allow public schools to bill Mainecare for school counseling, ed. tech, and other services delivered to students with behavioral problems; then the door was opened to a major expansion of the special ed. empire." and yet that isn't what happened. The % of children identifies as ED has actually gone DOWN. Yup shame on leaders for trying to shift the costs away from the local property tax...and get the feds to finally pay their promised 40% share of special ed cost. No conspiracy theory there. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
March 4, 2010 at 1:43 PM Report abuse