School cuts spur showdown
Board members say if Paul won´t trim administration, then they will

By Michael Stewart
Thursday, May 1, 2008

The Escambia County School Board and Superintendent Jim Paul may be headed toward a costly legal showdown over budget cuts.

The issue came to a head at a Tuesday night meeting after the board rejected Paul´s recommendation to cut $1.7 million in non-teaching positions across district departments.

Board members objected to Paul´s failure to include any top administrative positions in the cuts, and they are considering a vote to eliminate positions themselves.

Paul maintains that only he has the constitutional authority to recommend staff reductions, and the board can only vote his proposals up or down.

“The last thing we need, particularly during a financial crisis, is to get involved in a legal dispute between the superintendent and the School Board,” Paul said. “That could be very costly.”

School Board member Jeff Bergosh argued, however, that more cuts are needed at the top and fewer at the bottom.

“We´ve got to find a way to lessen the impacts on students,” he said.

School Board attorney Donna Waters said no one wants a protracted legal fight.

“It could run into tens of thousands - if not hundred of thousands of dollars - and would be counterproductive,” she said.

Money for a legal battle would come from funds used to run the school district.

Board members on Tuesday approved Paul´s recommendation to cut 115 teachers and 40 elementary administrative clerks to save $6.2 million next year. In return, they want Paul to bring a recommendation to reduce top administrative staff.

The Escambia Education Association, which is the teachers´ union, has recommended cutting 24 administrative positions for a $1.6 million savings.

The administrative staff includes 41 department heads and assistant superintendents, supervising such areas as transportation, food, maintenance, human resources and finance. About 100 principals and vice principals also are considered administrators.

The association´s suggestions include:

n Cutting the position of Ronnie Arnold, the associate superintendent of public and interagency affairs and the usual district spokesman, for a yearly savings of $113,823.

n Eliminating the position of Paul´s executive assistant, who is paid $87,985 a year.

n Cutting one director of high school education position for a savings of $124,159 a year.

Paul said he saved the district $175,000 a year by combining a lobbyist, an assistant superintendent and a public relations position into the one position Arnold now holds.

“As the superintendent, couldn´t you perform those duties if you had to?” School Board member Claudia Brown-Curry asked Paul.

“No, I couldn´t,” Paul replied.

Paul has a separate attorney, Joe Hammons, who did not attend Tuesday´s meeting.

Waters advised School Board members that the law appears to be on their side if they choose to bypass Paul´s recommendations and create or abolish staff positions on their own.

Showdown May 20

The cuts are part of an ongoing effort to trim $10.2 million from the district´s budget next year.

Paul´s $1.7 million budget-reduction request is included in the district´s 2008-09 personnel planning document, which must be approved before negotiations with contracted employees can begin.

If the board refuses to sign off on the personal planning document - and $1.7 million in budget cuts - at or before its May 20 meeting, there will not be enough time to legally notify those in positions to be cut, said Alan Scott, assistant superintendent for human resources.

“By default, everybody who has a contract will be funded for the next year, and that $1.7 million will be lost,” Scott said.

The School Board said, however, it will not approve the planning document unless Paul includes recommendations to reduce his top administrative staff.

“Can I recommend you take this document back and go through it again and try your hardest to find something at the top to cut?” Brown-Curry asked Paul.

Paul, who is not seeking re-election this fall, said there are no positions to eliminate.

“You can make any recommendation you want to make,” he told Brown-Curry. “I´ll take it under advice and consideration. I´ve done that. But I do not believe the School Board has any authority other than to vote my recommendations up or down.”

Charting legal ground

Court cases between school boards and superintendents are rare.

In 2006, Bay County School District Superintendent James McCalister tried to transfer Bay High School Principal Larry Bolinger to a different school. The board voted to override his decision.

The Florida 1st First District Court of Appeal ultimately ruled the board did not have the authority to require the superintendent to retain Bolinger as principal.

Based on that case, Paul said his attorney, Hammons, is confident he would prevail in court.

Waters said, however, the McCalister case addressed where Bolinger would be assigned within the school district and not whether the district has the authority to create or eliminate positions.

“I don´t think the McCalister case necessarily applies because we are relying on a different section of the statute,” Waters said.

There are no case precedents on the issue, she said.

On Wednesday evening, Paul met with senior staff to see if there were other options available. He could call a meeting with the School Board next week in another attempt to get the personal planning document approved.

When asked if he planned to revise the document rejected by the School Board, Paul said: “That´s hard to answer. The plan is to bring that very document, but it could change.”