Illinois Teachers Feeling the Pinch of Layoffs (IL)
March 30, 2011
For teachers in Illinois, spring can be a nail-biter. By state law, that’s when thousands of them are informed they may not be hired back until budgets are set in stone.
That’s typically been little more than a procedural step, with most being brought back by August. But this year isn’t typical.
With Illinois facing crippling budget shortfalls and education funding plummeting, pink slips are likely to be handed out to far more teachers.
Just this week, Cahokia sent lay-off notices to a staggering one-fifth of i ts faculty. And the prospects for bringing back those teachers may be more daunting than ever.
"Historically, I’ve gone through this with people and said, ‘Well, you’ll probably come back.’ We just don’t know this year, with the higher number," said Cahokia School Board member Rich Sauget. "It may mean that some of them may not come back."
What’s true at Cahokia is true across the Metro East, with districts such as Belleville and O’Fallon likely to issue "reduction in force" notices in the coming days or weeks.
"It’s a nervous time for everyone," said Brad Harriman, superintendent of the St. Clair County Regional Office of Education.
Harriman said school districts have no choice but to balance their budgets for the coming school year. And until their revenue situations become clear, they have few options but to cut, at least temporarily, from their largest expense — personnel.
"Then they can call those people back as the money shows up," he said.
But when will it show up and how much will there be, school district leaders are wondering.
"The state has been so late on their payments that the districts are going to have to carry debt from 2011 into 2012, and that puts even more pressure on them," Harriman said.
The Illinois State Board of Education surveys districts each fall for details on reduction notices issued the previous spring. According to the surveys, the figures in 2010 spiked significantly, with more than 8,800 dismissal notices for full-time tenured and nontenured positions, compared with about 6,100 notices the prior year. And the actual 2010 figures were likely far higher, since they did not include 42 school districts, including the Chicago district.
Over the last four years, districts typically have brought back about half or more of the teachers who had filled the dismissed positions.
Sauget said that while he couldn’t recall just how many teachers in his district received notices last year, the number is up this go-around. In a special meeting Monday night, the Cahokia board voted to lay off about 70 teachers, as well as several administrators and support staff.
"Anytime you have to tell somebody, ‘Your services aren’t necessarily needed,’ it’s a scary proposition," Sauget said. "As a school board, we want all those teachers to come back."
Reduction notices are being prepared statewide — or will be in the coming days — because the state requires that tenured teachers receive at least 60 days’ notice that they may return to their jobs in the fall. Nontenured teachers and noncertified staff are given shorter notice.
In Missouri, schools also are being forced to lay off teachers, though the state’s fiscal crisis is not as deep as the one in Illinois.
Most recently, the Ladue district announced it will trim 28 teaching positions as part of $5.1 million in reductions.
In St. Charles County, Francis Howell’s board voted last month to eliminate 95 jobs in the 2011-12 academic year. Webster Groves School District officials have offered teachers incentives to retire early. And in the Rockwood district, six middle school teachers, 10 counselors and four drivers education teachers will not have their jobs next school year.
Brent Murphy, a Cahokia teacher and president of the teachers union there, said he expects a good number of the laid-off teachers in his district to be rehired.
"Cahokia is down to the bare bones as it is, so there’s no way that the district can function without an additional 70 teachers," Murphy said.
While the layoffs don’t come as good news, it could have been worse, he said. Those with reduction notices have recall rights, meaning that if their positions open in the next two years, those laid off will be first in line to be rehired.
"It’s not a great situation, but it’s better than just being let go," he said. "I understand the situation that the district is under."