Schools chief drafts out cuts for teachers’ union.
STAMFORD — Superintendent Tamu Lucero has sent the teachers’ union a draft proposal for how to address the 202021 school budget, which finance officials want to keep the same as it is this fiscal year.
Lucero has requested a $15 million increase for the coming year, but officials say they will be able to give her none of that because of a huge revenue shortfall projected to result from the quarantine brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Lucero presented options to meet new budget constraints in a May 14 memo to the teachers union, the Stamford Education Association.
The first is to cut “staff and programs to an unprecedented degree,” which will be “devastating to the district” and would require laying off “dozens of employees,” Lucero wrote.
The other options involve different combinations of wage reductions, all of which include zero salary increases for all Board of Education employees for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 fiscal years.
One would eliminate the raises, which would save $5.5 million each year, plus cut costs by $4 million.
Another would eliminate the raises and further reduce salaries by 2.7 percent.
A third would eliminate the raises and further reduce salaries by 1.8 percent in each of the two coming years.
A fourth option would eliminate the raises and have employees increase their share of the cost of health care premiums by 10 percent.
Two other options involve employee buyouts or reducing salaries for new hires, though those may not be viable, according to the memo.
Lucero laid out possible cost cuts if the union does not concede to salary reductions.
Lucero said Friday the document “is a draft list of potential cuts that would be necessary to meet the proposed reduced budget amount. Ultimately, the final decision on which programs or positions to cut is the decision of the Board of Education during the reallocation process. That process will take place after the Board of Finance and Board of Representatives vote on the final city and Board of Education budgets.”
The finance board votes May 27 and representatives vote June 4.
The list of possible cuts includes items as low as $25,000 for the SoundWaters sailing program for students, and as high as $1.6 million for facilities maintenance and repairs.
Possible program cuts include $225,000 for reading software, $283,000 for algebra tutoring, $129,200 for freshman sports, and $290,000 from individual school building budgets.
Proposed cuts identify nearly 200 positions, including 13 reading teachers for a savings of $1 million; 12 classroom teachers for $996,000; 21 kindergarten paraeducators for $882,000; 10 administrative interns for $830,000; three coordinators for $456,000; six K-2 instructional support teachers for $498,000; five counselors for $415,000; and 10 security workers for $600,000.
“We’re trying to block this any possible way we can,” said Diane Phanos, president of the teachers’ union.
Lucero originally proposed a $301 million budget but has since found $3 million in savings, bringing it to $298 million. If her request for another $15 million is not approved, the budget will remain at this year’s level, $283 million.