PORTLAND — Eighty-one positions in the city’s public schools would be eliminated by the $92.7 million budget that the superintendent proposed tonight for the coming school year.

Targeted positions include 31 teachers, 38 educational technicians, six administrators, three custodians and one secretary, Superintendent Jim Morse said.

Exactly how many people would be laid off is unclear because 41 school employees have agreed to retire by June under an incentive program, Morse said. Their salaries and benefits total $2.6 million annually, but some of them would be replaced, he said.

The deadline to accept the incentive was Monday. Morse said he plans to ask the School Board to extend the deadline two weeks in the hope that more of about 200 eligible employees will decide to retire.

Morse’s $92.7 million proposal is $2.8 million more than the $89.9 million budget that voters approved last May for the current school year.

The proposed budget reflects an expected $6 million reduction in state funding in the wake of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, offset slightly by $1.8 million that the district reserved from last year’s federal jobs bill.

Morse’s budget also includes $911,000 for salary step increases and $336,000 for requested sabbaticals that are required by union contract but subject to ongoing negotiations.

A public hearing on Morse’s proposal will be held at 7 p.m. March 15 in Room 250 at Casco Bay High School. The School Board will present its recommended budget to the City Council on April 4.

Copy the Story Link