Friday, March 05, 1999
Teachers' union enlists public in opposing cuts
CPS budget trims might include staff incentives
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati Public Schools may eliminate several nationally recognized teacher training and compensation programs in cutting $20 million from the budget.
That prompted union leaders to launch an advertising blitz to enlist parents in fighting the cuts.
The programs, which include peer evaluations, mentoring and merit pay raises, cost nearly $6 million.
District officials stress that no cuts have been approved.
School board members have directed Superintendent Steven Adamowski to come up with a list of proposed cuts by March 15. Officials say they need to cut $10 million from student spending and $10 million from central office because they won't seek a tax increase in May. The pupil spending cuts would be restored if a levy passes in November, but the administrative cuts won't.
But Cincinnati Federation of Teachers President Tom Mooney said officials shouldn't even consider cutting the teachers' programs.
“The consequences of eliminating these programs will be immediate and severe,” Mr. Mooney said. “We'd be looking at a huge setback in all of our efforts to improve achievement.”
The union on Wednesday began a two-week blitz of radio and newspaper ads and community mailers.
District leaders are considering cutting:
• Peer Assistance and Evaluation Program: This $1.2 million program allows successful, veteran, “consulting” teachers to mentor and evaluate — and recommend for dismissal if needed — new teachers and struggling veter an teachers. Since the program started in 1985, 71 teachers have lost their jobs through this peer review; only three went to arbitration, Mr. Mooney said.
• Career-in-Teaching program: The district's approach to pay-for-performance, provides higher pay as teachers take on more duties. It started in 1990. “Lead teachers” get an extra $5,500 to reward their success and compensate for more responsibilities; they could lose this incentive if cuts are approved, Mr. Mooney said.
• Professional Practice Schools: Like medical students working in a teaching hospital, this program requires University of Cincinnati education students to complete a one-year internship in a CPS school. The 7-year-old program costs $500,000.
School board members stressed that no decisions have been made.
“It's not going to be easy to cut $10 million out of central services,” board member Sally Warner said. “But I think it's jumping the gun a little bit to say we're going to cut (the teacher programs). We need to look at the full picture before we decide on any cuts.”
Board member Harriet Russell agreed: “There are no sacred cows in terms of programs or departments. We have to look at all of them, in order to be fair. Not a single program, nor a single department, should be exempt from experiencing budget cuts.”
But teachers hope for leniency.
“I wish I had a consulting teacher when I started teaching,” said Cindi Menefield, a consulting teacher who started teaching at Shroder Paideia 12 years ago.
“It took me eight years of really struggling and working hard, because I wanted to be a good teacher, to glean from other professionals and just learn from trial and error things about lesson planning, classroom design, ... everything,” she said.
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