The Good , the Bad , and the Ugly Furloughs & Demotions

School District of Lancaster www.lancaster.k12.pa.us TheGood, theBad, and the UglyFurloughs & Demotions Matthew Przywara Chief Financial & Operations Officer Mark Holman Director of Human Resources

The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs School District of Lancaster Information: Urban School District 11,000 Students • 1,600 Staff • 885 Teachers (1,000 in 10/11) • 24 Buildings • 78% Poverty • 2,000 Special Education Students • 51% of incoming students have an IEP • 1,950 English Language Learners • Over 1,000 Homeless Students (9% of Student Enrollment) • Growing refugee population (1.8% of Student Enrollment) • 30% Tax Exempt

2011-12 Budget Outlook Reduction of State Funding $7.5 MM Flat Tax Base – ACT 1 Index of 2.0% • Generates $1.2 MM of New Money Increased Costs: • PSERS • Healthcare • Utilities The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs School District of Lancaster

Projected Deficit at March 2011 $10 MM The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs School District of Lancaster

The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs SDoL Budget Situation How do we determine the reductions that need to take place in order to balance the budget?

The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs 2011-12 List of Non-Mandated Programs

Evaluated cost within each program • Programmatic Budget • Staffing Superintendent (Cabinet Team) • Determined Non-Mandated Programs to discuss • Meetings with Principal Groups • Elementary • Secondary Programmatic Reductions • Consensus? • Team Built 100 Teaching Positions were impacted • 10% of our Teaching Staff The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Process for Determining Programmatic Reductions

The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Timeline

There are few things to consider: Will you be able to cover your losses through attrition? Are you close enough to offer an incentive to get to your numbers? If the answer to questions 1 & 2 are yes, then my job is done, if no then we need to move on. The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs So you need to reduce staff!

Should you need to eliminate programs, there is a specific process outlined by the state. You must apply to PDE to Alter or Curtail programs. The application process can take several weeks or even months to complete. Your application must include a copy of the board minutes of the board action as proof to PDE that the board intends to alter or curtail a program. The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Will you need to reduce or eliminate programs?

If your request for curtailment is denied you have 10 days to file an appeal. You must have your approval before you can proceed with the suspension of any employees. Keep in mind under the school code you must give professional employees notice of suspension 60 days prior to the start of your next school year. The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Alteration and Curtailment continued

Each employee group has a different process for staff reduction The process for union employees is typically clearly spelled out in the collective bargaining agreements The teachers process is further defined in the school code Administrators have rules separate from teachers The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs How many staff will you need to reduce?

This is process that requires a lot of time and unfortunately to permanently close a school you may actually be too late This process requires specific notice and specific hearings, as well as permission from PDE Temporary closures are less time consuming and you would have enough time for closure this year The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Will you need to close Schools?

The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Before you go any further, you must answer a key question?

Make sure your data is clean! Do you know how many staff members you have? Do you know when they all started? Are you sure you know who is tenured and who is not? Identify any known vacancies for your coming school year The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Is your Data Clean?

With clean data you can make good accurate decisions You can manage this process with confidence You can avoid legal and union issues The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Fix your Data issues now!

Under the school code these are your two primary tools Demotions offer greater flexibility and generally pose less risk Furloughs or Suspensions as they are referenced in the school code are more challenging and take a little more time The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Demotion Vs Furlough

Essentially, allow you to reduce a persons position, from fulltime to less than full time They do not require as much proof, documentation or time The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Demotions

Have much more restrictive rules Do not allow you to target specific individuals The positions you eliminate may not be the individuals who are suspended Do not consider performance Seniority plays a major role Non-tenured staff are displaced before tenured staff The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Furloughs (Suspensions)

Two ways to Suspend: • Straight line • Checkerboard The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Furloughs (Suspensions) (Cont’d)

Only looks at staff within the area of certification in which they are teaching If you are reducing 5 Spanish teachers the last 5 non-tenured Spanish teachers hired are the first to be suspended The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Straight Line Suspensions

Looks at all areas in which a teacher is certified In the previous scenario, if you were to eliminate 5 Spanish teaching positions We would now look at the last 5 non-tenured Spanish teachers hired and they would be the 5 that would be suspended, UNLESS! They had certification in another area and were more senior than a person holding that certificate The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Checker Boarding

YES, if they held a certificate in another area, even though they never taught in that area, they could displace a less senior teacher The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Checker boarding (Cont’d)

This is just a recommendation that I am personally making. It’s a recommendation that I make from experience Meet with your labor groups to clearly discuss the process you intend to use to reduce staff This will greatly reduce problems down the road The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Ready, set, STOP!!!

Who is most senior when two people are hired on the same agenda? First person named First person that signed their employment contact Do you draw lots It may be any of the above or none of these Know the process, there may be precedence if so explore the process and get it in writing so you both agree The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs What are some common issues

We met with our union to agree on a written process We used the checker boarding method of suspension We identified a listing of all of our vacant positions that we needed fill based on known retirements and resignations The first persons affected were the teachers on emergency certificates (persons in high needs areas such as speech were not displaced), their employment was terminated The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs What did the SDOL do?

We added the positions of those terminated to the pool of vacancies needing to be filled for the coming year Once we worked through the process to identify teachers who were going to be displaced. We put these displaced teachers into the vacancies to be filled for next year. Because we used checker boarding these displaced teachers could bump someone with less seniority in an area for which they were certified but never taught If we had more positions than teachers then our process would be complete. Additional vacancies would be filled by new hires The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs What did the SDOL do? (Cont’d)

If we had more teachers than vacancies, then we would need to formally suspend these teachers. We ended up suspending 52 teachers in SDOL These teachers were all placed on a recall list in order of their seniority by each certification they held We opted to give both Non-tenured teachers as well as tenured teachers the right of recall. Please note, the right of recall is only required of tenured teachers The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs What did the SDOL do? (Cont’d)

To date we have 13 persons who remain on our recall list Two employees took advantage of the summer to add areas of certification to their certificates. One was hired back and is doing an outstanding job Teachers on recall will remain on the list automatically for 2 years, after that they must send in a letter annually to retain their recall rights The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs What did the SDOL do? (Cont’d)

If you offer a position to a fulltime position to a teacher on the recall list and they decline, they will lose their right to recall and can be removed from the list To cover your bases you should add these persons who decline recall to your agenda, and specifically note, the following employee declined recall and waivers their right to recall The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs What did the SDOL do? (Cont’d)

Residual Impact from Furloughs 8 Months Later – Still in the process • Continuous tracking of furloughed staff Not a pure savings • Unemployment Cost Unfair Labor Practices • Time & Money to initiate the process • Legal Costs The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs The Ugly

Involve your Stakeholders Early & Often • Principals need to be involved and understand the process • Impact is greater to them Work collaboratively with your Union(s) Create and follow a prescriptive timeline • Will cost you time and money later! The Good, Bad & Ugly of Furloughs Final Recommendation

School District of Lancaster www.lancaster.k12.pa.us Questions Matthew Przywara Chief Financial & Operations Officer mrprzywara@lancaster.k12.pa.us Mark Holman Director of Human Resources meholman@lancaster.k12.pa.us

The Good , the Bad , and the Ugly Furloughs & Demotions