Push to save teaching jobs was not necessary

Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS

The urgent push for millions in federal aid to save Ohio teaching jobs this year appears to have been for naught.

It turns out that there weren’t thousands of educator jobs here that needed saving. Not yet, anyway.

A Dispatch survey of 17 of Ohio’s largest school districts found that fewer than 500 teachers, secretaries and other school workers lost their jobs this year. More than half of those districts, which account for about 20 percent of the state’s students, laid no one off. Districts that did let school employees go brought many — if not most — back right away. Some simply needed to downsize staff as enrollment had shrunk over time.

So as the state prepares to distribute Ohio’s $361 million share of the federal Education Jobs Fund to districts and charter schools, many school officials say they will sock the money away for next year rather than use it to rehire teachers and other staff now. Even if districts chose to bring back the recently-displaced employees, they likely wouldn’t make a dent in the $361 million account: To rehire those 500-or-so workers in the biggest districts, assuming an average salary of $50,000, would cost less than $3 million.

“There doesn’t’ seem to be as much of an emergency as we were told,” said U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Genoa Township, referring to claims by Democratic House leaders and teachers unions that the money was needed before the start of school to prevent layoffs.

Tiberi, who voted against the aid because it added to the federal deficit, said now it appears Ohio schools didn’t need the money, at least not right away.

With a projected $8 billion shortfall in the upcoming two-year state budget, school officials are more concerned about what some expect will be double-digit cuts in state aid to schools and say they want to save the money to prevent layoffs in the fall of 2011.

“If I didn’t need the money this year, and I knew there was the possibility of state cuts next year, I would hold it, too,” said David Varda, executive director of the Ohio Association of School Business Officials.

Cincinnati schools will receive $4.6 million in federal aid, yet the district did not cut any educators from its payroll. School officials worry that next year won’t be as kind.

“Regardless of who is elected governor, the budget won’t be balanced, and a good portion will have to come from schools” to close the gap, said Jonathan Boyd, chief fiscal officer for Cincinnati schools. He projects the district will face a $33 million deficit next year, assuming a 12 percent reduction in state aid, which accounts for about 40 percent of its revenues.

Ohio was among the first states to seek the money after President Obama signed the $26 billion federal aid package last month. It provided states with $10 billion for education and $16 billion for Medicaid, a federal-state health-care program that covers the poor and disabled.

The U.S. Department of Education approved Ohio’s request for its share of the funds and state officials say it expects to distribute the money to districts and charter schools in early October. Under federal guidelines, schools have until September 2012 to spend the money. It can be used to pay salaries, performance bonuses and other expenses.