April 13th, 2009 Update

I was hoping we would have a budget by now, but all sources say very little is happening at the legislature.  Because of that, at this Tuesday’s Governing Board meeting I will be requesting the last round of RIF notices.  This request covers those that would lose their jobs if more than one school needs to be closed.  All of those that will be recommended for RIF have already been notified, so if you haven’t personally been talked to, you are not on the list.  I am very optimistic that cuts to K-12 will no be so deep that anyone on this list will lose their job, but until the legislature adopts a budget we don’t know for sure what will happen.  In fact, I am still very hopeful that we will be able to retain most of those on the first list.

For those of you reading this that are current employees, I want to inform you that next year’s contracts for certified, and “offers of employment” for support staff, have language in them that has not existed before.  This language has been drafted by our attorney and allows the district to do three things: 1) furlough employees up to ten days; 2) implement a general salary reduction; and 3) break a contract prior to the first day of work and paying that employee $1,000 (just as an employee must pay the district $1,000 if they break their contract).

Our attorney belongs to a state-wide association of school attorneys, and that association has been working on a contract template that all districts can use.  The reason those clauses have been added is two-fold.  One, the budget has not been set yet even though we must proceed with offering contracts.  Two, there is a fear that at some point next year the state could implement mid-year cuts like they did this year.  In order to be prepared for the worst case, legal council recommends all districts use this language.  I can’t emphasize enough that none of these options will be exercised unless absolutely necessary.