School board votes 3-2 on MUSD reduction in force

After tabling the original vote during the March 23 meeting, Wednesday the Maricopa Unified School District governing board approved the Reduction in Force (RIF), eliminating 60 positions.

MUSD is dealing with $3 to $3.4 million in budget cuts after cutting $4.8 million last year. With nearly 85 percent of the school’s budget going to the salaries and benefits of the teachers, the district wasn’t left with any other options.

With a 3-2 vote, the RIFs were approved with board members Torri Anderson and Carrie Vargas voting against the measure.

According to state law, all certified employees who might not be rehired for the following year must receive notification from school districts by April 15, making a decision during Wednesday’s meeting imperative.

“We’ve modified this (list) a little bit that we are presenting to the board,” Superintendent Jeff Kleck told board members. “We know that we’re going to have a certain student population, and we’re going to need so many teachers to be able to take care of that population.”

The original list presented on March 23 had 74 names that included 70 certified positions. That list would have saved the district nearly $3.7 million, but it was tabled during that meeting due to the board questioning the results of evaluations that took place in order to select those individuals.

“I would like to do no list,” Kleck said. “People who’ve been in this business, school people, are relationship-oriented people. It hurts when you have to do these kinds of things.”

“There is nothing fun about it for people in administration, and there is nobody in administration that does this with glee. We all do this with the utmost bit of integrity, and we certainly wish people affected by it well. I find no happiness in it whatsoever.”

With approximately 350 teachers and certified positions at the nine schools in the district, teacher salaries and benefits made up nearly 85 percent of the budget. The other 14 percent goes to necessary operating costs that include insurance and electricity.

“We set that group for approval,” said Kleck, referring to the number on the list. “We looked at the minimal number of staff that we need to reduce based on the loss of students and based on some of the other things that we need to do to restructure some of our programs.”

The list that was presented had 60 names on it and included 48 certified positions, which would save the district approximately $2.6 million. Based on the budget the school has, there is still another $400,000 that needs to be cut.

With the boardroom already in a somber mood, board member Patti Coutre was barely audible in moving the RIF list to a vote by the board.

“I think the community needs to understand that we have been put into a position that has left us no choice,” said board member Geoff Goddard in response. “I think we were also put into a bad position with the way the RIF process was handled, the evaluations and things of that nature and, ultimately, it falls on the board to make that decision.”

Those that were on the RIF list can reapply for a position if there is an opening and would have to go through the district’s application process.

“This is the not the situation any board member wants to be in,” Vargas said. “I don’t think that any teacher or administrator wants to be in, but, unfortunately, it’s the position we are in, whether we like it or not. I don’t want to cut programs or staff any more than any other person does. It’s with heavy hearts that we make these very difficult decisions.”

Photo by Ash Friedrich