Palm Beach County schools won´t lay off surplus workers

By LAURA GREEN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The Palm Beach County School District, the county´s largest employer, is carrying on its payroll 110 custodians, office staff, teacher´s aides and others who should be without a job according to the district´s own staffing formulas.

But Superintendent Art Johnson has committed to no layoffs next school year, refusing to contribute to the worsening economy.

Ideally, the 110 will be funneled into positions that open due to resignations and retirements during the school year.

But if no new jobs open up, it will cost $3.5 million to keep paying the 110. The added cost comes at a time when the school board is struggling to reduce next school year´s operating costs by $50 million because of the Florida Legislature´s cuts to school spending.

Many of the excess school district positions are the results of cuts to school and department budgets. The district employs roughly 23,000 people.

Johnson´s no-layoff promise is viewed as a waste of taxpayer money by some and an admirable sacrifice by others.

During contract negotiations with the district Monday, it drew the ire of the teachers union, whose officials believe the money would be better spent compensating teachers.

“Allow them to work somewhere else and reward the people who made this an A-rated district,” said Robert Dow, president the Classroom Teachers Association.

Van Ludy, the district´s director of labor relations, called Johnson´s stance “courageous.”

Teachers generally are spared layoffs because of conditions negotiated in their contracts.

But district officials said they´re worried about the prospects for other employees who could be let go in this economy.

Palm Beach County companies and government entities cut about 6,100 jobs in the fiscal year ending June 30, according to The Workforce Alliance Inc.

“We´re mindful that if we lay off these people, they´re going to be hard-pressed to find a job outside the school district,” said Mike Burke, the district´s chief financial officer.

In recent months, Johnson has lauded the district´s foresight in not negotiating costly multiyear salary deals with unions. Such promises are forcing other districts to renege on them or lay off employees to afford them.

The district has offered teachers no raises for next school year.

But even without being locked into an expensive deal, the district found itself with more employees than its newly trimmed budgets allow.

When school ended June 6, there were 284 people on the books in non-teaching jobs without a placement at an annual cost of $9 million. Little by little, human resources officials have found employees jobs.

Teacher´s aides make up many of the positions still without a home. They may be asked to fill in as substitute teachers if they have the required two-year degree.

Burke has set aside $2.5 million in operating funds to cover the costs of employees who are not placed through attrition.

If positions don´t open up before school starts, the employees will be placed in schools with low test scores and departments that could use some extra help.

“It´s not like we´re going to have a school that has an over-allocation of custodians (by) seven and they don´t know what to do with themselves all day,” Ludy said.

But Ludy said he´s already concerned by the projections he´s seen for school funding for the 2009-10 school year. If they hold true, he said, “I don´t see how we´re going to avoid layoffs.”