Posted: 6:00 a.m. Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Fewer teachers may increase class sizes

Some districts, like Middletown, report millions in savings from teacher retirements.

By Rick McCrabb

Staff Writer

BUTLER COUNTY — 

While Middletown City Schools could save as much as $2 million from its budget next school year, it will come at a cost: the loss of staffing positions will lead to slightly larger class sizes, union and school officials said.

For the first time in decades, school districts around the state are recruiting and hiring entry-level graduates to fill some of the vacancies left when more expensive veteran teachers retired, including Hamilton, Middletown and Lakota school districts locally.

As of Monday, a total of 53 teachers had either retired or resigned from Middletown City Schools. The district has said it will not replace 13 teaching positions, two paraprofessionals, three secretaries, one administrator, one psychologist and one tutor for a total savings of as much as $1,331,686 in salaries and $717,062 in benefits, according to Treasurer Randy Bertram.

Because of the reduction in staff, one to two more students will be enrolled in each class, Superintendent Sam Ison said. The average number of students per class will remain less than 25, a district goal, but some more popular classes will have more than 25 students, he said.

Ison said staff cutbacks will not impact the district’s curriculum offerings.

Reducing the district’s budget always is a priority, but Ison said the district will hire “the best teachers possible for our kids.”

Then he added: “We are very conscious of our programs and delivery.”

Dom Williams, president of the Middletown Teachers’ Association, said he was “disappointed” by the staff reductions because he hates to see “good teachers” leave the district, but he understood the decision because of dwindling enrollment and the district’s financial state.

In the past five years, enrollment in Middletown City Schools has dropped — from 6,737 to 6,510 this year, or 3.37 percent.

Human Resources Director Eric Gearhart has started interviewing teacher candidates. Those who are hired probably will have less experience, thus receive a lower salary, than the teachers they’re replacing, he said.

A first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree in the Middletown district next school year will earn $34,495, Williams said. At the top of the pay scale, a teacher with 25 years experience, a master’s degree and 30 additional hours of graduate work, earns $74,510 in Middletown, he said.

Williams said the district lost some “very good” teachers for two reasons: higher compensation in neighboring districts and what he called the “current climate.”

When the school board was deciding whether to renew Ison’s contract earlier this year, a majority of the MTA membership publicly voiced their displeasure with the administration.

Since then, Ison has taken steps to improve communication between the administration and the teachers, Williams has said.

Williams said MTA members received a 1 percent raise in their base pay this year after losing 1 percent for two consecutive years and having their salaries frozen last year. Also, he said, the cost of health care compensation rose from 10 percent to 20 percent.

“We are well behind where we started five years ago,” he said of the 400 MTA union members.

In Hamilton, 34 teachers retired this year, about 10 more than average, said Carol Frazier, human resources secretary. She said all of the positions will be filled by less experienced staff, a move expected to save the district about $1 million. Treasurer Bob Hancock estimated the district will save $860,000 in salaries and $140,000 in benefits.

Lakota schools saw 48 teachers submit retirement letters earlier this month, and so far has hired 37 teachers, with others expected to be hired before the school year begins, said Randy Oppenheimer, a district spokesman.

In 2010, the state decided its public pension systems could not be sustained as veteran teachers neared retirement. When the pension-system changes began, eligible teachers who didn’t retire forfeited cost-of-living increases. Starting on July 1, 2015, teacher retirements will be based on their highest five years of salaries, not their best three years as it is now, Ison said.

That change has sent teachers out of the classroom and toward retirement. For the last decade, retirements averaged about 6,000 annually, but they peaked around 8,000 in 2012 and 2013, according to the Ohio Education Research Center.

It’s unclear how many teachers will need to be hired around the state. Ohio is expected to see the seventh sharpest decline in student enrollment in the next seven years, according to U.S. Department of Education projections.

Enrollment in the state has fallen an average of 1,500 students per year since 1995, according to the Ohio Education Research Center Report. The report indicates Ohio will need 700 fewer teachers each year through 2018 because of declining enrollment.