Buena Vista teachers, custodians brace for cost-cutting measures
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Buena Vista is facing the same economic conditions that have driven the nation into recession. Its schools need to cut spending. |
The Buena Vista School Board continues to wrestle with how it plans to offset about $1 million in state budget cuts next year.
During an emergency meeting Feb. 5, the board decided to cap the number of sick days teachers can be compensated for when they retire.
Currently, teachers receive $62.50 for every sick day they do not use. So a teacher who stockpiled all 12 of his or her annual sick days for 15 years would receive slightly more than $11,000.
The board intends to cap at $8,000 the amount teachers can earn by cashing in sick days. That limit will affect only those who have not already surpassed the $8,000 benchmark; the staggered payout will favor the longest-serving employees.
The proposal goes before the Buena Vista school finance board later this month. It is expected to pass easily.
The Feb. 5 emergency meeting came in response to a long list of budget recommendations made by Superintendent Rebecca Gates to City Council.
Gates says that offering early retirement incentives, eliminating some staff, and shortening the working year for others will help save the school district $591,503. That figure includes a possible 1 percent pay cut for all district employees.
While Gates says that teachers are on board with her plan, some continue to voice their discontent.
“We are all very upset about this,” a teacher at Parry McCluer Middle School who wished not to be identified said in an e-mail.
The school board meeting did, however, include a victory for teachers. Two personal days will now be available to teachers to use as they wish. If left unused, they will be counted as sick days.
Stephanie Clark, an elementary school music teacher, appreciates that action.
“We all know everything we stand to lose over the next year, and those two days really mean something to us,” Clark said. “A lot of us teach summer school or work second jobs in the summer, and we look to those days as a sort of light.”
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