Classified employees bear the brunt of district's mismanagement

A Spectrum, by Sheila Dickman

Happy New Year says the Ma-Su Borough School District to the classified employees who lost their jobs on Dec. 18. You are officially notified that as of Jan. 6, 2003, you do not have a job with the school district. It doesn't matter if you have been with the district for many years, or if you were recently hired, you no longer are employed with the district. You are put on a layoff list, hoping you will be called back to work within two years. This goes to show how valued we are by our district. This is how we are repaid for our years of dedication to the district as support staff. Once again, when the administration uses misjudgment in managing the district, classified employees are the ones to lose their jobs. We are the lowest paid and one of the hardest working groups of employees in the district, and always the first to go in times of a money crunch. What about the hiring of two new directors in place of one token supervisor who was recently let go? Directors get paid a lot more than supervisors do. Are there any cuts to administration to balance these employee layoffs? According to the district the answer is "no." Will there be any administrators made accountable for that mess?

At the end of our last school year, the district returned $1.7 million to the borough assembly. Wow! Just a while ago the district's auditor revealed the district had a $3.7 million fund balance from last year. Then just a little while later they were running a $3 million deficit. What is going on? Who is responsible for these gross miscalculations? The administration, that's who. Last year for more than six months the district calculated they would have $1 million left at the end of June. Two weeks prior to closing the books for last school year the district stuck to its $1 million calculation. An independent audit revealed the actual fund balance as $3.7 million. The district miscalculated by 400 percent. Now they are saying they are projecting a $3 million deficit. Let's check their math. The district has admitted they gambled and lost $500,000 in a new charter school initiative. The district has admitted it was counting more than 100 students (for state funding purposes) who were not actually enrolled in our school district. The district's error cost them just over a $1/2 million in state funding. That equals $1 million in unexpected expenses. However, they are claiming a $3 million deficit exists. Is this another "miscalculation?" Is this another budget error? Or is this incompetence? Who pays for the district's miscalculations, budget errors and incompetence? Not the folks responsible at the top! Sounds to me like we need better managers of the district's finances. In my household, if I only have a $1,000 to spend a month then I make sure to not go over that amount.

Another example of not being accountable: the district over-collected a $1/4 million from employees based on their projection of insurance cost. This information was kept from employees and CEA's Insurance Committee. Would we even have known if it had not been found during an audit?

We don't have enough employees now to do the jobs that we have to do and we are supposed to make it with fewer employees? So much for taking the lead in the state with this new federal law of "leave no child behind."

On Jan. 6, with fewer classified employees, we will have schools that won't be as clean, less people to work with your special needs students, warehouse services null and void, minimal maintenance and repair on buildings, and less people to take your calls when you try to reach the schools. There will be more stress on the staff left behind trying to get the jobs done that 48 other people used to help them do. Teachers will be expected to do more and the classified staff that are left behind will be expected to pick up the slack for the employees who were let go. Our school board members need to take a serious look at what new programs are being proposed before they implement them, and the ramifications to the budget process if they don't work.

Sheila Dickman is president of the Mat-Su Classified Education Association.