Buyouts

Today's Journal...

Middletown schools to offer retirement incentive

MIDDLETOWN — The Middletown Board of Education agreed to offer early retirement incentives Monday night and heard a series of budget strategies to offset next year’s state funding crunch

Lisa Lowery, director of human resources, stressed: “This is not a buyout.” Whoops, wait a minute Ms. Lowery......

Buyout
By Susan M. Heathfield, About.com Guide
Definition:
Buyouts are a common method for reducing the number and cost of employees. In buyouts, the employer offers some employees or all employees the opportunity to receive a large severance package in return for leaving their employment.

Letters will go out to those eligible next week. Teachers and administrators electing to participate would receive $45,000, plus an amount equivalent to applicable contractual sick leave pay in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement.

Classified staffers would receive 100 percent of their base salary, not to exceed $20,000, plus an amount equivalent to applicable contractual sick pay in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement, according to a release by the district.

Sure sounds like it.

The third option — which board president Marcia Andrew and board member Katie McNeil publicly admired — would move seventh and eighth grades to Vail, close an elementary school and create a sixth-grade center.

Wonder which elementary school they would consider closing? Could it be one of those brand spankin' new ones we just approved to be built to the tune of $45 million in bonds approved???? Could we end up having a brand new school mothballed already?

That option would include reducing the district’s transportation levels to state minimums, increasing class sizes and reducing Central Office and building support staffing.....An introduction from Rasmussen for a proposed tax levy, soaking the property owners again perhaps? The old "we need more money to operate" routine again???

For what its worth, I've heard from teachers in the district that Creekview and Highview are the two schools being looked at as the 6th grade school.

My understanding was that the new one and two story elementaries were the same size, just different floorplans (one story just has bigger footprint).

A buyout is to have the cost-effective result of getting rid of higher salaried people, so that entry salaried people can be hired, thus saving money in the long run.  

Only option #2 would have one of the new buildings possibly sit idle for those worried about that. No building gets shut down under Option #1 if I remember correctly. Verity would be mothballed under options #2 and #3.

Of the three options, #1 is the largest cut at around $5.3 - $5.4 million. This is the general "salt the earth, eliminate everything" stuff that gets tossed around at levy time: transportation to state minimums, pay for play (or eliminated completely) extracurriculars, drastic cuts in music, art and physical education programs at all levels, elimination of the success academy and intervention programs, etc. I don't think this one is likely. It would just hurt attendance and performance numbers even more than they already are. Also, they wouldn't have it as a scare tactic to hold over everyone the next time a levy needs passed!

My feeling is that if they go with option #2, Central Academy should be the elementary that gets closed. It is one of the older buildings and it doesn't actually service a specific neighborhood.

Under option #3, the elementary that is "closed" would have the K-5 kids distributed amongst the other schools (involves redistricting) and then all 6th graders in the district would be sent to the newer (now former) elementary building that was emptied as part of the redistricting. Highview I think would be the best option for this because it is centrally located and would be easiest for redrawing the district lines to distribute those kids around to all of the other elementary schools in Middletown. (Added bonus: They could finally get rid of the worthless principal at that building!)

2010 Elementary boundary map

Options #2 & #3 are looking more to reduce costs by consolidating services into less buildings rather than eliminating them, and are nearly as effective with just between $5.0 and $5.1 million saved annually in making the changes. All three of the options include $1.5 million in cuts made at the district / central administration level.

I was told that there is a full detail of the options on the district's website but I haven't been able to locate it yet. I got to see a printout of the powerpoint slides for each option yesterday and option #3 does seem like the most viable without causing loss of too many services to the students in the district.

These cuts would likely be around 10% of the budget. But once Kasich and the state legislature get done making cuts at the state level, we could be seeing up to 20% of the district's budget going away, so these plans would be a good start but more will need done.

This may be the link Middletownscouter  used to see the powerpoint used Monday evening.  About 2/3 the way through it the options are referenced.  This does not go into detail for the plans but does explain them on a broad view.  It took me a little while to find this also.  I guess I will need to catch a replay on TV Middletown to hear the actual presentation that went with it.

http://www.middletowncityschools.com/pdf/BOE_Feb28_2011.pdf