District administration recommends keeping MWMS open, adding back some positions

The newly reorganized Maricopa Unified School District’s budget advisory committee met last night, and what they heard from Superintendent Jeff Kleck was good news for many.

With the passage of Prop 100, the state sales tax increase, the district is just $67,000 short of the $5 million in budget cuts needed. That figure includes reductions in force (RIFs) already made, but the administration offered recommendations to the governing board that the following changes be made:

• No re-purposing of Maricopa Wells Middle School (the school would stay open)
• No elimination of Maricopa Wells front office staff (three positions)
• Bringing back one elementary assistant principal at Maricopa Elementary School
• Adding back three teachers at the high school
• Maintaining three middle school mentor and security positions
• Maintaining middle school athletics with stipends, which may be adjusted next month
• Adding back custodial staff
• Adding back music and PE at the elementary level
• Adding back nine library aide/bookstore positions

“Administration has recommended that we do keep Maricopa Wells open, but it depends what the board wants to do,” said Kleck.

“From day one our intention hasn’t been to get rid of people,” said governing board president Geoff Goddard. “We’re looking at the quality of teachers we have and the quality of students we have. We’re raising the bar, and we need to keep that in mind.”

Twenty-five of the 29 advisory committee members present were tasked with advising the board on budget reductions.

“Help me figure out the best way to get as many teachers back in the classroom as possible,” said board member Carrie Vargas.

Kleck explained that the administration has two full pages of ideas from the committee for making money. For example, advertising on district buses is being investigated, which could bring in $50,000. “We feel pretty confident about the federal government kicking in with the Keeping Our Teachers Working Act of 2010 legislation. Still you can never spend all your money down to $0 in a budget; you have to have some cushion because we don’t know what will happen during the year.”

Some of the other efficiencies being investigated are contracted custodial services and software ‘free environments.’ “We’re going to be pursuing those things to save ourselves $67,000,” Kleck said.

However, according to Kleck, staff members who have received RIF notices legally cannot return to the district without interviewing. Administration is creating a correlation between the evaluation tool and interview questions, and they will be requiring applicants to submit a DVD showing them teaching. “The idea is to bring in the best teacher you can; you can’t decide how much it will cost. You can’t go in thinking we’re going to hire younger, cheaper teachers.”

“There are a lot of teachers out there who don’t have jobs. From a district perspective, we’re in the power position in terms of getting teachers,” Goddard said.

Two positions committee members identified as possibly keeping were the elementary gifted teacher and the volunteer coordinator. “If we decide that these positions are vital, we may need to put them back in,” Kleck explained, adding that administration is exploring grants for the volunteer coordinator position.

“We’re wanting feedback; we’re not making decisions tonight,” Goddard said. “We didn’t just inherit $2 million to go out and spend it and have a good time. We need people to move us forward. Let’s make the wise decisions now and not spend money we don’t have.”

“Close is not good enough; if we’re going to balance the budget, let’s balance the budget.  There are a lot of questions out there about the district’s ability to manage their checkbook,” said committee member Scott Bartle.

Board member Tim White agreed. “I’ve heard a lot of talk about money that could come in. You don’t spend money you don’t have in your hand, not money you might get or could possibly come in.”

The timeline for identifying district savings is now July 15, when the budget must be submitted to the Arizona Department of Education. With that in mind, committee members broke into four small groups to discuss changes they would make in budget reductions with the emphasis on restoring teachers and student programs.

Photo by Joyce Hollis