Thousands of Ariz. teachers facing job cuts

Hundreds, if not thousands, of Arizona teachers will lose their jobs as school districts finalize "reduction in force" notices in the next two weeks.

Starting Monday, Mesa Unified will hand out notices to 310 people, including more than 200 teachers. In Higley Unified, more than 60 jobs are being eliminated. Apache Junction Unified will lose 13 percent of its teachers.

The Arizona Daily Star reported Friday that Tucson Unified told more than 600 employees that their positions are being eliminated next year.

Chuck Essigs, government relations director for the Arizona Association of School Business Officials, has worked in Arizona school finance for 25 years.

"It's never happened at this level," he said of the widespread school cuts and layoffs of teachers and other district employees. "It's been isolated. It's not happened to hundreds of teachers in one state, let alone one district ... Never anything, anywhere close."

Also, many teachers around Arizona on one-year-only contracts are learning they will not be hired back next school year. In Mesa, in addition to the 310 reduction-in-force notices going out next week, about 600 other employees on one-year contracts were reminded in February that their contracts may not be renewed.

Arizona schools are required to issue reduction-in-force notices by April 15 to certified staff on continuing contracts.

Since state lawmakers are still sorting out next year's budget and education cuts, school districts say they are forced to make decisions based on worst-case scenarios.

"As we have worked through what seems to be actions that the Legislature may take, it was necessary for us to reduce our planned expenditures for next year," Mesa Superintendent Debra Duvall said. "The only way that we can do that is by providing the (reduction in force) notices to our teachers because we have already reduced our budget plans for next year by $40 million."

Preliminary reports from Scottsdale Unified indicate 230 staff members may lose their jobs. Queen Creek Unified School District's meeting agenda for Tuesday includes approval of that district's reduction-in-force list. Preliminary numbers indicate Queen Creek may have 20 to 25 teachers on the list, according to Superintendent James Murlless.

In some districts, more reduction-in-force notices may be given out than necessary, with the possibility some people may be invited back once districts finalize funding.

The latest news of budget cuts from state lawmakers includes a 5 percent across-the-board funding cut for public schools ($257 million statewide), as well as cutting early kindergarten ($11.2 million) and rolling back building maintenance grants ($7 million). The state already reduced this year's budgets for Arizona schools by more than $100 million.

In addition, schools will likely see a 37 percent reduction in dollars from the state's sales-tax-driven classroom site fund. That money is used to fund teacher salaries and incentive pay.

Even with federal stimulus money coming, the guidelines are so unclear at this time, districts say they cannot count on that money given their April 15 deadline.

Mesa faces a "double whammy" superintendent Duvall has said, because in addition to projected state cuts, the district's enrollment is declining, with 2,000 fewer students this year than last. Another 2,000-student decline is expected when classes begin in the fall. In Arizona, schools receive the bulk of their funding based on the numbers of students they have.

Most school districts will decide who gets to stay and who has to go based on districtwide seniority.

That is the case in Mesa, according to Mesa Education Association president Kirk Hinsey, who has fielded dozens of calls from teachers about where they fall on the seniority list. If there is a question about a reduction-in-force notice based on someone's seniority, Hinsey said his organization can step in to investigate.

Up to 25 percent of the notices can be an exception to the seniority rule, he said.

Jo Bell, president of the Gilbert Education Association, said in her more than 18 years in the Gilbert Unified School District, she has not seen any layoffs. But she and her fellow teachers are aware of the financial crisis.

"This is hard for everybody. This is not an easy decision and nobody likes where we are right now," Bell said.

Last year, the Gilbert district hired about 280 teachers. If a reduction is needed, some of them may be on the frontline, she said.

"They may not have savings to hold them over the summer. They may have to move back to their home state," she said. "Many are young families with children who can't hold on. They need to buy diapers and baby food. They may have to look for other jobs, which is going to hurt in the end even if the Legislature funds education the way we hope they will.

"We will have lost a group of talented educators in this state because of necessity."