The Allentown School District is considering eliminating as many 150 teaching positions and 11 administration jobs, according to Superintendent Russ Mayo.
He made the announcement at the end of a school board Education Committee meeting Thursday night that drew a standing-room-only crowd. Mayo acknowledged the cuts would be difficult but said districts like Allentown no longer have the money to be all things to all students.
"This has been personally excruciatingly painful," Mayo said.
The district is facing a budget gap of $22.5 million. The cuts would reduce the deficit by $11 million.
Deb Tretter, president of the teachers union, says the cuts would lead to increased class sizes, discipline problems and lower student test scores. She estimated the teacher cuts would result in an average of 31 students per class in elementary school and 33 in secondary schools.
The reductions would touch many areas of the district, including full-day kindergarten, English as a second language, special education programs, and middle school reading and math intervention programs.
Among the proposed layoffs would be 21 teaching positions in arts, music, library and physical education at the elementary level.
Tretter said regular classroom teachers would be placed in charge of those subjects.
Eric Wilburn, a social studies teacher at Harrison-Morton Middle School, spoke about the importance of arts and physical education in schools.
"As a teacher I see firsthand the effects of students losing related-arts classes," he said. "They don't get time to release energy that was built up by sitting still and focusing hard in the classroom. I want them bouncing off the walls in phys ed, not in my social studies class."
School Director Scott Armstrong talked about the need to prioritize.
"None of us want to cut art. None of us want to cut music. None of us want larger class sizes. We have to meet the budget," Armstrong said.
Mayo suggested the district would try to increase community partnerships; For example, an arts organization might be asked to provide arts programs for elementary school students.
Tretter blamed Gov. Tom Corbett's administration for not sufficiently funding education. Corbett's budget for 2013-1014 ties an increase in education funding to the privatization of state liquor stores.
"We do not fault the board or the district for causing this crisis," Tretter said.
The proposed cuts could be the second round of massive layoffs in three years, coming after Allentown eliminated 204 positions, including 112 teachers, in the 2011-12 school year.
"The 150 teacher layoffs are a worst-scenario," said School Director Robert Smith Jr., adding that the board would be continue to work on the budget until June.
Teachers began worrying about layoffs in January, when the school board approved a staff audit to identify which positions could be cut and the pros and cons of eliminating them.
Mayo warned in December that layoffs could hit the district next school year because of a projected 26 percent cut in federal funding. Mayo blamed the lingering effects of a poor economy, reasoning that school districts are the last to feel the effects of a recession on federal funding. As a result, temporary federal grants that Allentown had received are scheduled to run out and not be renewed, Mayo said.
Teacher salaries were frozen this year under the terms of a three-year contract agreed to in January 2012, but the contract calls for about 2 percent raises next year and 2.5 percent raises in 2014-15.
Margie Peterson is a freelance writer.
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