YOUNGSTOWN SCHOOLS Board expected to OK contract extension

A projected year-end deficit prevents the district from negotiating new contracts.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The city school board is expected to approve a one-year contract extension for its 800 teachers tonight.
The Youngstown Education Association, the teachers union, is expected to vote on the pact Monday.
The current teacher contract doesn't expire until June 30, and negotiations on a new agreement were to begin this spring.
Projections of a possible $4 million year-end deficit in the $117 million general fund budget have put those negotiations on hold for now.
By law, Youngstown can't negotiate new contracts because the district can't certify that it would have the money to pay for any wage increases in a new agreement, school officials have said.
The result has been the negotiation of one-year "successor" agreements for employee groups that basically continue current contracts. However, there will be pay increases for any teachers still advancing through the salary steps of the YEA contract.
AFSCME contract
The school board and the 500-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union approved the same arrangement in late January. The AFSCME contract was set to expire Jan. 31.
An additional 16 employees of the district's five crafts unions (painters, plumbers, carpenters and others) got the same deal at that time.
Carolyn Funk, district treasurer, has advised the school board that Youngstown is facing a deficit of about $4 million at the end of this school year June 30. Lower-than-anticipated state subsidy receipts, based largely on the loss of 380 pupils who have moved from the district, caused the financial crunch, Funk said.
Youngstown prepared its 2005-06 budget based on last year's enrollment numbers provided by the state. The state revised those figures in January, telling Youngstown that it will be getting $6.7 million less than it had anticipated. State instructional subsidy for the year will now total $54.2 million, Funk said.
Cost-cutting plan
Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent, said she and her staff are working on a plan to help the district cut expenses for 2006-07, a plan that is expected to include some layoffs. Just how many will be determined by how many employees retire at the end of this school year, she said.
School officials have said there is little that can be done to reduce the anticipated June 30 deficit. Layoffs aren't possible now because all employees are protected by current labor contracts, officials have said.
One way the district hopes to trim expenses in 2006-07 is to persuade employees to begin to pick up a share of their health insurance costs. The district is pushing for a 10 percent contribution, which would amount to about $1.2 million in savings.
The district has been meeting with all of its employee groups on that issue for months.
gwin@vindy.com