Board of Education Finance Committee Meeting Draft Part II

June 11, 2009

The discussion then moved to deferring the math instructional specialist for one year. This seemed to be agreeable to all. Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that she would support the reduction of the secretary in the Human Relations office and the .5 for the Executive Assistant. Mr. Iannaccone said that he would support the reduction of two months for the secretary for Health Services. This would reduce the position from a 12 month position to a 10 month position.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked about the vacancy in the Special Education Department. Mr. Daddona said that there would be a re-assignment for this position. She asked if this could be combined with the Health Secretary. Mr. Daddona said that to the best of his recollection, the employee works closely with the school psychologist and social workers and the preschool registration. There are seven preschools in the District that are Special Ed/Regular Ed and all those registrations are handled by this employee.

Dr. Corda then reviewed some of the details around one of the positions where the employee was out on leave for an extensive period of time and another employee whose position had been eliminated filled the on leave employee’s position. The employee who was temporarily filling the on leave position will move to a position that has been recently filled by a temporary worker.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan then asked about the Human Relations officer. Ms. Jimenez said that by taking out the secretary, the office had been reduced.

Dr. Corda then respectfully asked how the Finance Committee would be able to determine the value of any of the positions being considered for reduction or eliminated over any other Board member. He said that he was hearing the Committee members saying they were not comfortable with the elimination of this or the reduction of that and looking for consensus among the four Committee members. He then pointed out that the other members of the Board would have the same kinds of questions about the advocacy for the various positions.

Ms. Jimenez said that she felt that the Committee was trying to balance the budget the best that they could. The Committee is made up of four people, but ultimately there will be nine people who will have to struggle with making this decision on the 16th. She thought that the Committee was trying to consolidate some recommendations to bring before the Board in order to balance this budget.

Mr. Iannaccone suggested that the first and the second reconciliation be brought before the Board. Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that she was not comfortable with that and Ms. Jimenez said that the Committee had come to some consensus about which portions of the recommendations should be reduced. While there are items that are being reduced or eliminated that she is unhappy about, until the budget is balanced and approved, those items can’t be discussed.

Dr. Corda then reviewed the six items that did not have consensus from the May 7th budget. He said that there had been agreement about was the deferring of the math position and the 0% increase for the two Central office positions. The Committee members informed him that there had also been agreement about the elimination of the secretary in the Human Relations office; .5 Executive Assistant to the Superintendent and one other position. Other positions that were under consideration were the elimination of the Data Clerk; reduction of the Health Secretary from 12 months to 10 months; and elimination of the Insurance Clerk.

Mr. Iannaccone asked what the total of all these cuts and reductions would be. Rita informed him that it would be 1,800,959, which was about $400,000 short of balance. Ms. Jimenez asked if the reductions included the removal of the fringe benefit costs. Dr. Cook said that this had been factored in. Ms. Jimenez said that she would like to have this double checked because of the COBRA requirement stating if a position is eliminated the employer must still pay 65% of the premium for nine months. Dr. Corda said that the rule may be different for the District, but they would double check this. This will also be checked for unemployment insurance. Ms. Jimenez said that if the scenario she was proposing was correct, it would be 35% savings for nine months and then be different for the remaining three months if the position is eliminated. Mr. Iannaccone asked what would happen with the P.E. teacher. Dr. Corda said that a lot of the reductions would be done by attrition.

The discussion then moved to the Columbus aides. Dr. Corda said that the figure on the report is the net savings.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked the Committee if they wished to have an update on the 2008-2009 budget.

** MR. IANNACCONE SAID THAT HE WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A MOTION TO ADD AN ITEM TO THE AGENDA.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that she did not think that anything could be added to the agenda at a Special Meeting. Dr. Corda said that he could include the information in the Friday report and request Ms. Murray to add this to the agenda for the 16th. The discussion then moved to the inclusion of “Other Business” on the agendas. Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that this was not a regularly scheduled meeting. Dr. Corda said that it was only Board meetings that were regularly scheduled, not Committee meetings. Ms. Jimenez disagreed. Ms. Bishop-Pullan reminded everyone that the Committee had added a number of meetings for the budget.

Mr. Iannaccone said that he would want to re-examine the Central Office staffing. Ms. Jimenez said that the Committee and the Board would have to cut somewhere. The items that did not appear on the consensus list were items that were classroom related.

ADJOURNMENT

** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED TO ADJOURN. ** MS. JIMENEZ SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 10:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon L. Soltes Telesco Secretarial Services

Category: Committee Minutes