Austintown BOE OKs sending layoff notices

By Ed Runyan

The cuts in the Austintown schools represent $3.2 million in pay and benefits.

AUSTINTOWN — School board members approved notifying the teachers union and the Ohio Association of Public School Employees that it could lay off as many as 37 teachers, 75 nonteaching employees and various other workers at the end of this school year.

But the notifications don’t mean those jobs will be lost, however.

It means those jobs could be eliminated, and union contracts require notification by April 30 of the possibility of layoffs, Superintendent Doug Heuer said.

The 151 jobs represent $3.2 million in salary and benefits, Heuer said.

Heuer said the district will be required by the Ohio Department of Education to provide a financial projection at the end of the school year, indicating the size of the deficit it expects to have at the end of 2008-09 school year.

The school board eventually will need to make a decision on whether to institute open enrollment and what size levy to put on the November ballot, Heuer said.

The board meets again at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the school board offices in Austintown Middle School for additional discussion on financial matters.

For now, the district is anticipating a deficit of $5.4 million at the end of the 2008-09 school year. Such a deficit projection means the district must obey ODE requirements that it cut costs, Heuer said.

He noted the district was able to cut spending enough starting in October 2006 to change a projected carry-over of $2 million to a $3.9 million carry-over by June 2007.

That suggests that the current financial picture could improve in the coming months, but the skyrocketing cost of gasoline and the state’s recent statements about its budget problems are cause for concern, Heuer added.

The layoff list included the nonnewal of contracts for 18 special education teachers, eight retired but rehired teachers, seven long-term substitutes, four speech paraprofessionals, head mechanic John Snyder and part-time band teacher Kelly Zunic.

Bonnie Grantz, president of OAPSE Local 194, said the administration apparently plans to ask teachers to give up a provision of their contract that exempts them from having to handle playground and cafeteria monitoring duties — work that is done by 28 part-time OAPSE workers now.

Among the OAPSE workers on the layoff list are 22 bus drivers and 53 paraprofessionals, who are workers who assist teachers, Grantz said.

“We go through this every year,” Grantz said of the spring layoff notices. The list was actually longer last year, when the district restructured its buildings with the opening of the new Austintown Middle School, she added.

Among the citizens who spoke to the board was Austintown resident David Mellott, who said he thought the school administration should be willing to accept a 20 percent pay and benefits cut to reduce the budget deficit. He said that would save the district around $300,000.

Board member Tracy Morse questioned Heuer on whether rumors were true about whether Heuer was considering a reduction in busing as a cost-saving measure. Heuer said they were not.

runyan@vindy.com