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Ashland schools may lose teachers Superintendent wants to leave 12 positions open By DAMIAN MANN ASHLAND � A projected $840,000 shortfall may force the school district to leave at least 12 positions unfilled next year in what could be the beginning of painful and protracted cost-cutting. Under the superintendent�s proposal released Monday, the district would lose more than 5.2 support staff positions and 5.5 teaching positions through attrition. In addition, Superintendent Juli Di Chiro has decided not to hire a curriculum administrator and attendant staff that would save the district $125,000. The district is also considering more reductions in staff next year by offering early retirement incentives, which would have the ultimate and politically unpalatable effect of further increasing class sizes. Ashland schools have enjoyed some of the lowest teacher-student ratios in the county. "With 85 percent of our budget going to teachers, we don�t have much choice but to increase class size or face some other option," said Di Chiro. The superintendent said she hopes to avoid layoffs. The budget shortfall, originally projected at $240,000, grew another $600,000 recently as the district discovered expenses far exceeded revenues. To ease the district into what could be more devastating cutbacks, Di Chiro wants to tap into one-time funding sources as an interim solution to prop up the $20 million general fund and balance the budget. One temporary source of revenue will be a shift of funds from the $1.5 million athletic levy to help with grounds maintenance, utilities or custodial support. The district will also use up interest income from liability insurance premiums and cut two salary days out of the school year for administrators and teachers. "This is a short-term solution. This is not what we want to do in the long term," she said. "I am recommending that we engage in a communitywide discussion about how we can reduce our expenditures and live within the money allocated to us by the state." Compounding its problems, the district will not receive lottery funds in the coming biennial budget to support capital projects or school maintenance. Technology funds and a 1996 school bond are also drying up. During the past five years, Ashland schools have spent virtually all their carryover money in an effort to keep programs at healthy levels. In 1995, the district had a beginning balance of $2 million. By this year the carryover balance was $40,732. The district has experienced an enrollment drop and an unexpected loss in the number of special-education students. Di Chiro said the school board needs to brace itself for an even tougher budget scenario if the Legislature reduces the governor�s $5.2 billion education plan. "We need to have some additional cuts ready in case we need to go there," she said. Helman Elementary School Principal Barbara Fields said, "This is going to affect everybody. We are all going to have to tighten our belts as principals." Her school will lose one teaching position through attrition, but has also seen a corresponding drop in student enrollment. She said, "We have been very fortunate as a district to have low class sizes." Ashland Middle School Principal Dale Rooklyn said the loss of two teaching positions will increase class size from 25 students per teacher to 27. He believes the district�s funding situation will make it very difficult for schools to plan ahead. "It�s hard when you don�t know how stable you�re going to be from year to year. It�s like the stock market that goes up and down. It�s very hard on families, staff and students." School board member Terry Littleton said the district will have to explore different ways to reduce its expenditures in the coming year. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.