Layoffs of teachers and other personnel are inevitable if the school board cannot find a way to close the remaining $25 million gap in the 2018-2019 budget, officials said at the April 17 board caucus.
After several months of scrambling to come up with administrative and other cuts to the preliminary $713 million budget, they managed to reduce the deficit from $70 million. But unless some new unexpected revenue source materializes, the district will have to lay off more than 330 employees. More than 200 would be teachers.
No notifications to employees have gone out yet, said Schools Superintendent Dr. Marcia Lyles, but the district has had talks with principals of various schools about what jobs might be at risk.
This apparently has alerted some employees and started a flurry of rumors among parents as to what schools would be most impacted.
Business Administrator Regina Robinson blamed the budget shortfall on flat state aid and increasing expenses.
But some board members also blame an over reliance on high-priced consultants and expensive and perhaps unnecessary programs, many of which have been trimmed or cut to reduce the budget gap.
Board wants to know details of layoffs
In a resolution passed by an 8 to 1 vote, the board is requiring the administration to submit names, positions and other details for each proposed layoff. Lyles called the resolution redundant since the process for layoffs requires the administration to seek board approval before they occur.
She also noted that the board would only be notified of tenured teachers that are being terminated. Those teachers whose contracts are not being renewed will have the option to appeal their case before the board at a hearing on May 15.
Trustee Matthew Schapiro, the lone vote against the resolution, said Lyles and the school administration should be allowed to do their work without board intrusion.
The board and the superintendent have been engaged in a turf war since her appointment in 2011. Lyles has struggled to keep the board out of the day to day operations of the schools. Board trustees critical of aspects of her operations have sought more oversight power over how she does things.
In the past, trustees who helped appoint Lyles, along with the legal staff, helped her draw a firm line between operations and policy. The superintendent is in charge of operations. The board oversees policy.
But a subsequent change in the board’s membership and the replacement of the board attorney shifted the balance of power to trustees more critical of Lyles and allowed the board to flex its muscles to gain more oversight.
“I did not say we would not lay off people. I said we would look for ways to mitigate layoffs.” – Dr. Marcia Lyles
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May be out of useful ideas for cutting budget more
Trustee Lorenzo Richardson pressed Lyles about the layoffs, noting that in the past she told the board she would do everything possible to avoid layoffs.
Schapiro defended the Lyles administration, saying he was certain that she had done as much as possible to reduce the impact on teachers before bringing the matter to the board.
While some board members have offered additional ideas for revenue, Lyles called them “unusable.”
“I did not say we would not layoff people,” Lyles said. “I said we would look for ways to mitigate layoffs. The budget is still $25 million short. This needs to be addressed.”
But she went on to say that employees need to be prepared for the worst.
“Employees should know what we’re looking at,” Lyles said. “We don’t want them taken by surprise.”
She confirmed that teachers without tenure would likely not be retained, and this would proceed by seniority.
“Those hired last would be first,” she said.
Richardson, who introduced the resolution, said he was concerned about the impending layoffs. He said he had been contacted by a number of people and had heard the rumors concerning where the layoffs would take place.
“When we talk about things like this I like to look people in the eyes,” he said. “I feel very passionate about this.”
Richardson along with several other trustees wanted to discuss in more detail what plans are in place for the layoffs, as well as additional options that might avoid layoffs entirely.
But scheduled budget meetings have already taken place with the deadline for introducing and adopting the budget looming. The board must formally introduce the budget by Tuesday April 24 with the expectation of a final vote on May 7.
Board President Sudhan Thomas said he wanted to set up three meetings, but will settle for two with a final discussion to take place on the night of the final vote.
Robinson, however, said it would be prudent for the board to set up a single meeting just to talk about the layoffs, leaving other budget discussions to the other meetings.
Teachers ratify contract
In the middle of the layoff warnings, the teachers ratified a new contract which will include retroactive raises and a temporary freeze on the rise in healthcare premiums.
Teachers will receive a 3.5 percent raise retroactive to Sept. 1, 2016 when their previous contract expired, and then 2.7 percent increase when school starts again in September 2018.
Insurance premiums, which were a key element of the negotiations breakdown that led to a one-day strike in March, will be frozen from last September until June.
After that, insured teachers will receive a 1.75 percent stipend to help cover the cost of future increases and 2.25 percent if covered under a family plan.
The board approved the settlement with the union by a 5 to 1 vote with Trustee Matthew Schapiro voting against it.
“These collective bargaining agreements are very, very complicated,” said Schapiro. “But to put the negotiations process in the simplest terms, salaries for our employees can stay the same, they can go down, or they can go up. We are a district in financial crisis, facing a shortfall of tens of millions of dollars. And in this time of financial crisis, we are not maintaining salaries at their current levels, we are giving out raises: raises which we know will directly result in the layoffs of people working diligently for our students day after day, Jersey City residents who are trying to feed and clothe their families, our newest educators, just beginning their careers.”
He said agreement was “not grounded in reality, and that it sends a wrong signal to educators.
“It sends the wrong signal to our educators when we prioritize 3 percent raises over dozens or hundreds of jobs which could be lost, and who will have to look tomorrow at the faces of treasured colleagues who may lose their jobs at the end of this school year.”
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.
