Parents decry Eastern Lancaster County School District budget cuts - Lancaster Online 2/15/2011

Parents decry Eastern Lancaster County School District budget cuts
Board publicly unveils cost-saving plan to furlough 15 teachers, reduce programs
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era

Updated Feb 15, 2011 20:41

By PATRICK BURNS, Correspondent

The Eastern Lancaster County School Board's worst-kept secret — a proposal to furlough 15 teachers at the end of the school year — was unveiled to the public Monday at a packed board meeting.

The board disclosed what it had been deliberating for weeks in closed-door executive sessions: "Elanco is cutting staff to help balance the budget."

Word of the cuts — disclosed to teachers on Jan. 20 and reported in the media — generated a groundswell of reaction from parents who oppose them. They launched a wave of e-mails and phone calls, initiated a Facebook dialogue and held a hastily organized Super Bowl Sunday meeting intended to organize a unified response to save the teachers' jobs.

On Monday, about 250 residents packed the Blue Ball Elementary School gymnasium to express displeasure and plead that the board find alternative solutions to resolve a $1.2 million budget deficit for 2011-12.

Lourdes Vargas of New Holland, one of 28 people who addressed the board during the nearly three-hour session, suggested that the district reduce administrative staff and salaries before cutting teachers.

"Elanco's teachers' salaries are lower than their counterparts in Lancaster County, however our administrators' salaries are much higher than their counterparts'," Vargas said.

On Feb. 28, the board will vote on whether to approve the furloughs, which would save the district $1.31 million. Other measures could result in a total budget reduction of $1.43 million, said Keith Ramsey, district business manager.

Even with the cuts, Elanco residents face a real estate tax increase of 2.8 percent to 4.22 percent next year, Ramsey said. Elanco's current preliminary budget of $44.1 million increases expenditures by 9.6 percent.

The proposed cuts include staff at New Holland Elementary School and Garden Spot middle and high schools. The hardest hit departments are physical education, agriculture, music, and family consumer science programs.

Elanco also plans to reduce the number of advanced-placement courses at Garden Spot High School from nine to six, and eliminate the classroom segment of its driver education program.

"The bottom line is we've put a lot of time into this and tried to figure out what's best for kids within the confines that we have," Superintendent Robert Hollister said.

But Trish Doll, of Bowmansville, criticized proposals that would cut music programs and reduce advanced-placement classes.

"If Garden Spot wants to remain competitive and stand out and impress college admission counselors, why are AP classes being cut or realigned?" Doll asked.

Jim Shirk, of New Holland, president of Elanco's agricultural advisory board, said it's a mistake to cut the agriculture program because it is woven into the fabric of the district's farming community.

"These are very high-level curriculums that combine both academic and hands-on experience," Shirk said. "Students from Garden Spot are continually recognized in state and national competitions, including the 2010 state agribusiness award winner."

The proposed cuts would eliminate the adult farm program and reduce the agriculture department to 1.5 teachers —down from 3.5 teachers a year ago.

Hollister said the cuts target programs with low enrollment. For instance, teachers in the physical education program had "light schedules" and three of the advanced-placement classes on the chopping block have a total of 22 students.

Advanced-placement classes would be replaced partially by online courses, Hollister said.

Hollister said the cuts are inevitable because expenditures are increasing — due mostly to cyber school tuition obligations and rising teachers' compensation costs — while revenues from state and federal funding and local real estate and earned-income taxes are expected to dwindle in the years to come.

The layoffs are believed to be the first across-the-board teacher furloughs to be implemented in Lancaster County as a result of the economic downturn.

Manheim Township School District last week announced it is planning to furlough five teachers to trim about $150,000 from its 2011-12 budget.

Elanco did not disclose the names of the teachers to be furloughed.

Hollister said the cuts would be made on a seniority basis, but that "certification plays into it."

"It's essentially first out, last in per subject," Hollister said. "Somebody could theoretically bump from one subject area to another if they have the right certification."

State law prohibits school boards from laying off teachers merely for economic reasons, but districts can cut their teaching staff if enrollment drops by 10 percent or more.

Elanco's enrollment has declined 10.6 percent, from 3,575 students in 2001 to 3,194 today. Districts that don't meet the declining enrollment benchmarks may furlough teachers only if a program is cut or eliminated — something other districts in the state may be forced to do because of budget deficits, Hollister said.

"We're all in the same boat and, quite frankly, I think we're ahead of it." Hollister said. "I think we're being more honest than most (districts)."



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