Teachers are getting laid off all over New England, all over the country
Budget cuts tighten school job market
May 10, 2003
rutlandherald.nybor.com
By ROBIN PALMER Staff Writer
Declining enrollments, school budget cuts and out-of-state competition could make it more difficult for Vermont teachers to find jobs this fall.
Forty-two of 252 school district budgets were defeated at town meeting in March. Some of those budgets will be reconsidered by voters in coming weeks.
In the meantime, teachers have gotten reduction in force (RIF) notices under a statute requiring educators be notified by April 15, unless contracts specify otherwise, that their contracts may not be renewed for the upcoming school year.
Barre Superintendent Dorothy Anderson, who sent RIF notices to 22 teachers this spring, called the phenomena of falling enrollments mixed with significant budget cuts a “shakeout in the education system” that may put a dent in a known teacher shortage.
“Teachers are getting laid off all over New England, all over the country,” Anderson said. “It’s the economy and people are being cautious about spending money, and that includes in their property taxes.”
Enrollment
Education officials agree the number of teaching jobs available in Vermont is down.
“There are fewer jobs out there,” said Waitsfield Elementary principal Carol Hosford. “I think there’s been a lot of belt-tightening this year and the populations in some schools have dropped.”
That’s true in the Washington West Supervisory Union, of which Waitsfield is a part.
“What we’re seeing typically is a decline at the elementary level, and it’s mostly fewer kids coming to school,” said Superintendent Bill Riegel.
Washington West is not alone.
In the Caledonia Central Supervisory Union, 55 seniors will graduate in Danville this year and 18 kindergartners will start in the fall, according to Superintendent Robert Retchless.
“I think that’s happening throughout the state,” he said, noting that when enrollments drop, teachers are cut. “When class size gets down to nine, 10 kids, that’s not acceptable to the community.”
Retchless speculated that enrollments are dropping, in part, because young people are moving out of state to find jobs and raising their children elsewhere.
Montpelier Superintendent Chaunce Benedict questioned whether the tight Vermont housing market was also a contributor.
According to the state Department of Education, 99,978 students are enrolled in Vermont schools this year, a decrease of nearly 1 percent from last year’s 100,687 students. Over the six-year period from 1997 to 2003, enrollment dropped by 6.2 percent.
In 1997, the state peaked at 106,341 students, according to the Department of Education.
With the larger number of students still moving through the system, Riegel said enrollments do average out. It’s cyclical, he said.
“Over a 10-year period, there’s not a major fluctuation in our total enrollment, but you will have these peaks and valleys along the way,” he said.
Budget cuts
This year, however, declining enrollments are coupled with budget cuts.
Barre will reconsider its school budget Tuesday. Anderson is optimistic the budget will pass and laid-off teachers will be invited back.
“All but two we intend to keep, once the budget passes,” she said.
High school music teacher Glendon Ingalls is one of those Barre teachers expected to be invited back if the budget passes.
Trying to finish out the busy school year, Ingalls said he doesn’t know if he should be looking for a job or not.
“It’s a great deal of uncertainty. I’m very concerned about the budget vote,” he said.
Ingalls has been teaching music in Barre for 21 years. He’s only been at the high school for two years, however. He was previously at Barre Town Middle / Elementary School.
“When I changed jobs, I lost my seniority,” he said. Teacher contracts typically specify the newest person hired is the first to be let go.
As a first-year teacher 20 years ago, Ingalls found himself in a similar situation. “I didn’t get RIF’d. The budget passed and all was well.”
This time, he’s not so certain. “I think there’s a good chance that it could happen; I think there’s a very good chance,” he said of being let go.
Parts of the Barre music program, including some individual instruction and one of the school’s two jazz ensembles, will be cut if Ingalls’ position is eliminated, he said.
With ties to the community and a son who is a sophomore at Spaulding High School, where Ingalls teaches, he is also worried about having to move to find work.
“It affects families as well as the individuals,” he said.
Other districts, anticipating property tax increases that voters wouldn’t support, cut positions before budgets even went to the polls.
“At the high school, we did let two teachers go because of budgetary issues,” said Walter Goetz, superintendent at Rutland Southwest Supervisory Union.
Poultney High School cut a social studies and a science teacher.
Sandra Morris has taught science at Poultney High for only a year, but she didn’t expect to lose her job. “I was really dismayed,” she said.
Morris, who previously taught in the private sector and has lived around the world, is a self-described hands-on teacher with a love of science and stimulating young minds.
“My world is completely consumed with what I do,” she said. “I just really love working with the students. I love making them think, and that’s something that a lot of kids don’t really know how to do.”
She is looking for another science position within driving distance of her home in Cuttingsville.
“I love what I do. I will continue,” said Morris, optimistic she will find a new job.
Out-of-state competition
She will have competition, however.
The licensing division of the Department of Education in Vermont is busy — busier than it’s ever been at this time of year — processing applications for licensure, according to Gail Kilkelly, coordinator of educator licensing.
It has 236 open applications, she said recently, noting that the figure doesn’t even include college graduates, who are just ending their school year. About half of the applicants are from outside Vermont, she said.
“There are quite a number of neighboring states — Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and into the mid-Atlantic — that are reducing their budgets by reductions in forces,” Kilkelly said. “We’re talking huge numbers.”
Boston alone laid off 1,200 teachers recently.
Despite some concern among laid-off teachers and superintendents, Kilkelly said, an increase in teachers seeking license in Vermont is good news for the state.
Current budget cuts won’t eliminate the teacher shortage, she said. And the need for teachers will only grow.
“In the coming years, there will be a lot of teachers retiring and a lot of new teachers needed,” said West Windsor Superintendent Mary Bell, who is also principal at Albert Bridge School.
In the meantime, college job placement officials, such as Christine Clary of St. Michael’s College in Colchester, are advising graduates to join service organizations like AmeriCorps after college, or to take whatever job in education they can get, even if it’s not a full-time teaching position.
“We’re telling them to hang in there because the retirements are coming,” Clary said. “It’s very dramatic this spring with budgets going down. It will get better. It has to get better.” |
