The Dougherty School System is not renewing 24 teachers and administrators

ALBANY — The Dougherty County School system has confirmed that nearly two dozen elective teachers and administrators have been issued letters of non-renewal in what Superintendent Butch Mosely called a “reduction in force” to help reduce a $8.1 million shortfall in the system’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget.

“We are paying, now, because of some spending habits of the past when the system had a lot of money,” Mosely said of the action taken Friday to save nearly $2 million as part of a reduction in force plan, part of an overall plan to reduce the shortfall in budgeted expenditures fr the coming school year. “That day is over and we can no longer fund positions that can’t be justified. I’m sorry, but the reality is we have to make cuts to maintain any sort of financial credibility and stay within budget limitations.”

Executive Director for Finance and Operations Ken Dyer described the financial situation to the system’s leadership team and to the Board of Education’s finance committee. In ongoing reviews of master schedules at the middle and high schools, some discoveries were made.

Although DCSS hasn’t received its official state allotment for FY 2015, QBE (state Quality Basic Education) funding is expected to be approximately $200,000 more than in FY 2014, which ends June 30.

But with the rising cost of teacher retirement, required salary steps for teachers, the cost of reducing furlough days, and preserving the reserve at an acceptable level will combine for an estimated $8.3 million in increased expenses.

The board is maintaining a strong position for the reduction of furlough days, DCSS officials said. Each furlough day is worth approximately $500,000 in savings for the system.

To address the projected shortfall, administrators have been considering a combination of reducing non-QBE funded programs and positions, improving efficiency in non-instructional areas, and improving efficiency of master schedules to optimize class size across the system, school officials said.

“The issues the administration is addressing are an accumulation of things going back several years,” Dyer said. “During those times, there was enough money to maintain the excess staff. When that luxury was no longer available, it was decided to implement 10 furlough days; but, there comes a time when you have to address the root cause of the problems. And that is what we are attempting to do.”

He said that the review process is ongoing and other staffing and program changes may be recommended.

Dyer reported to system leadership that there are significant scheduling inefficiencies, especially at the middle and high school levels. He said it was “hard to justify paying middle school elective course teachers full-time salaries when they only teach three out of six periods a day and when those classes have very low enrollment, especially when we have full classrooms in many of our English, math, science and social studies courses.”

Dyer added that the number of certain administrative positions exceed the number funded through the state allotment.

Although the written notices were sent out in compliance with state law, Dyer also scheduled meetings with each of the affected employees to personally inform them as to what was happening.

“Superintendent Mosely and I agreed that we should meet with each employee to let them know what was happening and why,” Dyer said. “We also wanted to answer any questions they had and make sure they understand the options available to them after their employment with the Dougherty County School System ends.

“It’s not pleasant and we don’t take it lightly. But as stewards of public funds, we must act in the most fiscally responsible way to meet the constraints of this challenge.”