Teachers become substitutes

Written by Alex Tyler

Due to the financial troubles caused by the recession, the school budget from the district is projected to be cut even more than last year’s midyear cuts. In an effort to reduce teaching costs, class sizes were increased and five teachers and one counselor were removed from their posts. However, the school has around 100 less kids than was projected for the budget. This means that the school budget will be cut even more.

The district bases their budget decisions on how much money was spent last year and on how many students are enrolled in school. Each student gets a certain amount of education money, as specified by the district.

“School budgets weigh kids’ lives against a business decision,” Helen Paris said.

This year, teachers’ pay was reduced by 3%, and their paid work hours were reduced by five hours. No instructional time was taken away, but many of the teacher workdays were removed. These include the parent conferences.

Teachers who received pink slips last year are now at the school as substitute teachers. This is a major reduction in pay, and it strips their job security. Because they are technically substitutes, the teachers can be pulled to another school that has a higher need of teachers.

“Its all a guessing game,” Paris said.

Carleen Jung, the school accountant, said that there will definitely be more cuts in mid October. The district is contemplating increasing class sizes even more.

Cindy Audiat, the school secretary already has to limit their use of consumable resources such as paper and custodial supplies.

“We lucked out this year.” Audiat said, in reference to the new desks that the district provided to all schools this year.

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