Proposed cuts could mean fewer staff, larger classes for Cedar Rapids schools

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Kyle Phillips' fellow teachers warned him that this would be a rough time of the year.

“You never like to see anybody facing a reduction,” said the language arts teacher from his classroom at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids. "It's just tough to think about."

Yet that's the predicament employees of the Cedar Rapids Community School District are now in. This week, administrators unveiled a proposed plan designed to slice $4.43 million or 4.3 percent from the district's general fund budget, including a reduction of 48.6 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, including 24 teaching positions at the district's secondary schools.

Deputy Superintendent Gary O'Malley described the reductions as “difficult but necessary,” the result of years of declining enrollment, low state-funding levels and years of the district spending beyond its means.

The loss of secondary positions is to be evenly split, with each middle school building eliminating two spots for instructional staff and each high school losing four. O'Malley predicted that the cuts, which are valued at $1.72 million, would come from the core subject areas – math, science, social studies and language arts – because there's more room to be flexible without sacrificing programming.

Should the school board adopt the current plan, 16 of the 24 positions will be reduced through individuals deciding to retire or seek other employment. Staff members filling the remaining eight will go into the district's surplus pool, where they will remain until another assignment for which they are properly certified arises.

“These are educators we want to keep in the district,” O'Malley said. “What this does is it buys us time.”

Sue Clapp, president of the Cedar Rapids Education Association, is optimistic.

“We're really thinking with the retirements and leaves of absence that we know of, we'll be able to accommodate all movement of teaching staff,” she said. “I am feeling more confident about it than I was a month ago. We were more worried that the proposed cuts were going to impact personnel more than this plan has.”

Under the plan, class sections may average as many as 29 students at the secondary level due to the cuts.

“That is one thing that we've discussed,” Phillips said. “A lot of things are kind of up in the air right now.”

In crafting the proposal, administrators took into account elementary-level cuts made in the recent past, including school closures. The plan calls for no loss of teaching positions but .5 FTE fewer paraprofessional time at each elementary school. In addition, the district will not staff paras allocated to alleviate large grade school classes.

The plan also calls for reduced or eliminated positions at the Educational Leadership and Support Center, including an internal auditor and a custodial and grounds employee, and $703,878 in non-staff cuts. Administrators also hope to save $78,560 by improving recycling and energy efficiency. The package calls for hiring a 1.0 FTE supervisor dedicated to implementing the energy efficiency program.

“Sometimes you have to make an investment to get a greater return later,” O'Malley said of the proposed staffing addition.

The Cedar Rapids School Board certified its budget on Monday but has until Sunday, June 30 to deal with line items. O'Malley said the district hopes to finalize the instructional staffing reductions by the end of April.