School Employee Buyouts to Be Suggested in Birmingham (AL)
February 22, 2011
Superintendent Craig Witherspoon today will ask the Birmingham school board to consider offering buyouts to about 10 percent of the district’s 3,000 employees in an effort to cut the district’s payroll.
Under the buyout Witherspoon is proposing, 329 school system employees who either have 25 years of service or are at least 60 years old with 10 years of service would be eligible for the package, said Solomon Stephens, the system’s chief human resources officer.
While the item is not on today’s Birmingham Board of Education agenda, Witherspoon on Monday confirmed he will present to the board a retirement incentive package, also known as employee buyouts.
The buyout offer would be one part of an overall cost-savings plan, Witherspoon said. Other parts include closing and consolidating more schools, reducing energy costs, continuing to reduce the number of administrators at the system’s central office and possibly declaring a reduction in force, which would al low for layoffs. Witherspoon declined to elaborate on those parts of the proposal.
The board is facing a $30 million deficit in the fiscal 2012 budget because of declining enrollment, the loss of federal stimulus money and two years of back-to-back state budget cuts.
Witherspoon was sketchy with details of the buyout plan, but said he is trying to do everything he can to cut the budget without having to conduct layoffs.
"We have some money with the sale of some surplus properties, and we have many folks who are eligible for retirement," he said.
Stephens said he is still working out the details on how much money employees would receive if they took the buyout. When the board offered buyouts in 2007, it paid certified employees $25,000 and classified employees $15,000 to retire early. Certified employees include teachers, counselors, librarians, principals and assistant principals; classified employees include transportation, maintenance, clerical and cafeteria workers.
"Obviously, this is a much more humane way to reduce the budget than a reduction in force," he said. "It provides the opportunity for those who are close to retirement age to take charge of the rest of their life."
The money used for the buyouts will come from the sale of properties such as Lane Development Center. The board sold the Lane property on Southside to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for $3.13 million.
The window for employees to accept the buyout would be 30 days from the time it is offe red, Stephens said. The board must move quickly on this because if layoffs are necessary, state law requires they be conducted by the last day of school, he said.
The two teachers unions — the Alabama Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers — say they support early retirement incentives and hope the plan eliminates the need for layoffs.
"We certainly think voluntary buyouts are a better alternative than laying off good, young employees," said Lance Hyche, Birmingham representative for AEA. "If they can fund the buyouts, we strongly support that."
The board meets today at 3:30 p.m. in the Administration Building, 2015 Park Place.