Mid-year layoffs, pay cuts likely in Saline Area Schools

After the packed presentation at Liberty School, the school board entered into a closed session with the superintendent and a few administrators to discuss re-opening teacher contracts.

Mid-year layoffs could be recommended to the board as early as Jan. 26, Superintendent Scot Graden said following the meeting. He said it's too early to provide details on whose jobs are at stake.

Saline Superintendent Scot Graden

Among the other proposals being considered are pay-to-play sports, closing Houghton Elementary School and restructuring grades.

Tonight's announcement followed $325,000 in proposed savings outlined last month.

All employees, including those in the central office, will be asked to make concessions either this year or next. Those concessions will likely include pay cuts or changes to health care contributions, given the budget problems plaguing the district, Graden said.

The presentation can be found in the Jan. 12 entry on the district's budget blog.

The cuts are on the way due to falling state funding, a countywide school enhancement millage proposal voted down in November and declining enrollment, district officials said.

Tim Heim, president of the district's teachers union, the Saline Education Association, announced the union's intention to re-negotiate Tuesday.

"I look to be able to bear some fruit that will be beneficial to the community," Heim said. "And I look forward to having discussions with Scot and his bargaining team."

The union told the board it didn't intended to re-open contracts when first asked to do so in November, Graden said. That was before Saline school officials explored the possibility of eliminating the entire high school math department in favor of offering math classes online, an idea Heim called "cataclysmic" Tuesday.

The teachers union contract was approved June 2008 and runs until 2012. It was a 3-year extension of the previous contract and includes a 2.5 percent wage increase each year, along with reductions in the district's contribution to health reimbursement accounts.

Areas of savings that will be explored by committees for 2010-2011 include:

• The potential closing of Houghton Elementary School. The move is being considered due to declining enrollment, Graden said. The district anticipates losing 90 students next year.
• The restructuring of grades.
• Pay-to-play sports.
• Pay-to-participate in extracurriculars, like student council.
• Health care savings.

More details will follow as committees meet in coming months with plans expected to be firmed up by May, just before the adoption of next fiscal year's budget in June.

Meanwhile, the administrative bargaining unit - the Saline Area School Managers Association, which includes employees like principals, the athletic director and other supervisors - is expected to make concessions by the Jan. 26 meeting. No details were provided tonight on what those concessions might be.

Announcements also may be made Jan. 26 on pay and benefit reductions to the central office, which includes Graden, the business office, and other administrators.

The Educational Support Personnel and Saline Area Administrators Association have already opened contracts per their bargaining agreements and pledged to be open to negotiations on pay and health care.

Saline Area Schools employs 600 staff members charged with facilitating the education of 5,450 students in grades pre-K to 12.

Gretchen Waters, who has two children who attend the high school, came to Tuesday's meeting.

"Teacher benefits are too rich for middle class taxpayers," she said.

A Saline High School student who spoke at the meeting alluded to the online math class idea, noting hard times call for new ideas.

"The status quo is no longer the norm," senior Matt Needham said.

Juliana Keeping covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter