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E-mail Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2011 > April > 11
Monday, April 11, 2011
State preparing for massive teacher layoffs
My colleague Joanne Huist Smith and I wrote this story:
DAYTON — State and county governments are preparing to help teachers in the event of mass layoffs.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has directed counties to prepare a Rapid Response Plan to help displaced workers cope with job loss and find new employment.
“We hope the need doesn’t happen, but if it does, we are preparing,” said Lucious Plant, administrator of Montgomery County’s Workforce Development Division. “We start making a plan as soon as we know people are at risk.”
The Ohio Education Association — representing 130,000 unionized school employees — predicts a dire scenario.
An analysis by the OEA estimates 10,860 Ohio education jobs could be eliminated in fiscal year 2012, based on Gov. John Kasich’s proposed budget, the loss of stimulus funding and phase-out of state tax reimbursements.
The region, including Montgomery, Miami, Greene, Warren, Preble, Clark and Butler counties, could lose 1,298 of those positions. Montgomery County ranked fifth in the state for the highest potential education job losses at 477, behind top-ranked Cuyahoga County with 1,432.
“We believe the 10,860 education jobs that could be eliminated will have a huge impact on local economies,” OEA spokeswoman Michele Prater said.
Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said Friday that any school district that “didn’t anticipate and prepare for the end of stimulus funding will absolutely have more difficulty than schools that were prepared for it and made adjustments.”
Nichols said they are pushing reforms to give local districts the ability to manage their costs with fewer resources.
“The bottom line is we inherited an $8 billion grease fire with regard to the budget hole. There are going to be significant changes,” he said. “You can’t continue to operate like we did in the past.”
Already, nine area school districts have announced plans to cut more than $30 million from their budgets by eliminating at least 230 jobs and other cost-cutting measures. Another 155 Dayton Public School District positions paid for by federal stimulus dollars are in jeopardy.
“Those positions have no funding stream,” district Treasurer Stan Lucas said. He stressed that some of the jobs, mostly teacher positions, could be saved through attrition.
In the meantime, the county has started contacting school districts to get a better idea of how many jobs are at risk.
“We are reaching out to districts to find out what they are facing. We need to know the who, the how many and the when,” Plant said. “We think the ‘when’ may be sooner than later. We want to make sure school districts know they can call on us.”
Dayton Public, which laid off 99 employees last spring, used the bulk of the $32 million in stimulus funds it received over two years to keep people working, Lucas said. Now school officials are trying to determine how to trim a projected $6 million deficit from its general fund budget for fiscal year 2012.
The district will use $4.3 million from the federal Education Jobs Fund for maintaining instructional staff, which Lucas said could save about 60 jobs. Officials are trying to determine where to trim the budget while meeting district priorities of raising the graduation rate, closing the achievement gap, improving third-grade reading scores and boosting kindergarten readiness. “It’s like a giant jigsaw puzzle,” Lucas said.
Most people associate the federally funded Rapid Response Program with manufacturing plant closures such as the 5,500 layoffs from Delphi in 2006, but the Montgomery County team also has served professional workers.
“Academics have advanced degrees and will require a different approach,” Plant said. “We have to design a plan to deliver services to multiple entities all at the same time.” Program costs will be determined by the need.
Plant said the Rapid Response team first collects potential layoff data, determines what resources workers will need such as connecting them with unemployment compensation specialists, mortgage counselors, retraining resources or social services, then puts a plan together for that specific workforce.
“Each layoff has it s own characteristics,” Plant said. “The way we deliver services and the services we deliver will be tailored to the work force.”
Developing a job-search strategy, refreshing resumes, showing workers how to gain entry to the job market after exhausting traditional sources and even providing support to keep up energy during a long job search are all part of rapid response.
“I agonize for anyone who gets laid off,” Plant said. “If you do get a notice, make a plan. Contact us. We help people get back to work.”
Potential education job losses in the Miami Valley, by county, in fiscal year 2012 Montgomery, 477; Butler, 245; Warren, 191; Greene, 138; Clark, 117; Miami, 94; Preble, 36. Source: Ohio Education Association
