No teacher layoffs in Mesa district this April

Feb 11, 2010 — East Valley Tribune

Michelle Reese

Feb. 10, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Teachers in the Mesa Unified School District will not face layoffs this April, under a plan crafted to avoid of a repeat of last year's pink slip saga.

A year ago, thousands of Arizona teachers were notified by April 15 -- as required by state law at that time -- that their jobs were being axed because of state budget uncertainty. In Mesa, 205 teachers were handed reduction-in-force notices letting them know they would not likely have a job this school year.

After months of up-and-down news, all but 10 of those teachers landed positions for the 2009-10 school year with Mesa Unified.

On Wednesday, Mesa administrators began telling teachers there will not be an April reduction-in-force process this year.

Janice Ramirez, assistant superintendent of human resources, told the governing board Tuesday evening about the administration's plan. The meetings will start with the teachers at Powell Junior High school, who will be displaced by the closing of the school in the fall.

The governing board decided in January to make several districtwide changes in light of declining enrollment. Powell will close after this school year and be converted into a community learning center. A handful of other programs from around the district will be moved to the site.

Tenured teachers at Powell were told Wednesday afternoon that they will have employment somewhere in the district, Ramirez said.

Some will find jobs through retirements and resignations of others. So far, 56 teachers have notified the district they will retire after this school year, Ramirez said.

Teaching positions may also open because the district has about 200 teachers on one-year-only contracts, including some retirees. The district is not required to offer them new contracts, which may open up some jobs, Ramirez said.

News of the plan was welcomed by Mesa Education Association president Kirk Hinsey, who also teaches at Powell.

"The great thing is it really shows the concern the district has for their employees," Hinsey said after Tuesday's meeting. "There is so much anxiety at my school."

Hinsey, a veteran teacher with the district, said it also shows the value the district puts in the "investment" it makes when it hires a teacher.

"This is a great plan," he said.

If there are still teachers who have not been placed in teaching positions by the start of the 2010-11 school year, the district will use federal stimulus money to hire them as part of a "professional development substitute cadre," complete with benefits, Ramirez said.

Those in the cadre would fill in for other teachers who are out of a classroom for training.

Most school years, Ramirez said, by the second week of school the district needs about 100 substitute teachers a day for various reasons.

Besides the district's hope to alleviate that anxiety among teachers, Ramirez said there is also uncertainty about the process the district would have to follow if it did conduct a reduction in force. During one of last years's special budget sessions, Arizona lawmakers passed a law that forbids districts from using seniority as a means to determine a reduction-in-force list.

In previous years, the most recently hired teachers were the first let go.

Since there have been challenges to the new law -- and debate about when the law actually can take effect -- the district would like to avoid the issue until there is more clarity.

The other change to the new law -- which removes the April 15 deadline to notify teachers of a reduction in force -- means the district could use the reduction in force another time if a budget "train wreck" hits, Superintendent Mike Cowan told the board Tuesday. But the district is not anticipating that, he said.

Board member Steve Peterson asked school leaders, "If we promise contracts, are we going to be able to offer that?"

Cowan responded, "We should be very successful to place these teachers in meaningful jobs."

There is still a bit of uncertainty regarding kindergarten to 12th grade education spending in Arizona, which makes up 42 percent of the state's budget, Hinsey said.

State lawmakers are trying to figure out how to deal with a $4 billion budget shortfall this current year and next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

"If the state continues (cutting education), quality teachers will start to leave," he believes.

One area Arizona education supporters point to is the fact that the state must keep education funding where it was in 2006 as per its obligation for accepting federal stimulus dollars.

Many believe the state is already at that threshold and cannot go below it without risking those stimulus dollars.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0132-41981022