Teacher Reductions

Apparently the school budget for our county faces the same pressure as school budgets across the nation. What has struck me as different is the response of the local school administration. It appears to be myopic. It lacks creativity. It presents a solution that will burden students with increased class size and inflicts pain on the teaching staff and support team.

The proposal of the school superintendent reflects elitism and connotes a level of educational greed that is troubling. Is the only solution the educational leadership can offer is one of cutting educational staff?

I have been waiting to have the school board speak up and offer leadership. I hear nothing but the sound of silence. Since when is silence leadership? Did we elect the school board to be silent and sit on the side lines at a time like this? The members of the school board receive a salary of more than $30,000 each year plus benefits of healthcare and pension payments.

What might a creative solution look like? Why not have the school board act as a voluntary body and take no salary or benefits? The savings would exceed $200,000. We would save four teaching positions. If all administrators took a 5 percent pay cut the savings would save another significant number of teaching positions, perhaps as many as 10. Then if the school board and the teachers representatives worked together to create a compromise and reduce all other salaries by 1 1/2 percent we could save another 25 to 30 positions.

The result would be very possibly no need to reduce any teaching or support staff. Our children would see further reductions in student to teacher ratios. No need to have schedule changes.

Al Kromholz
Sebring