March 30, 2009

EXCLUSIVE

Johnson: Too early to tell about saving teacher jobs

By Scott Wright

CENTRE — Cherokee County Superintendent of Schools Brian Johnson said last week he is unsure why any school system in Alabama would be willing to publicly announce the number of teaching jobs that might be saved by the Obama administration's federal stimulus package.

For starters, no one knows just yet exactly how Alabama's allotment will be divided among its 132 school systems.

“The amount nationwide is $48.6 billion for education,” Johnson told The Post last Thursday. “Alabama's share is a little over $729 million, but we won't know exactly where that's going until our regional meeting in Cullman on April 1.”

The news earlier this year that the state's education budget will be cut, or prorated, by about 12.5 percent for the 2009-10 school year means school systems like Cherokee County's are already looking at sizeable budget shortfalls because of the ongoing recession. The cuts were reduced to around nine percent after Gov. Bob Riley decided to dig into the state's so-called Rainy Day education savings fund.

Superintendents across the state are also waiting on the Alabama Legislature to pass a new education budget. If previous years are any indication, the vote will likely come on May 18, the final meeting day.

Without knowing how much money the state will provide, Johnson said it is impossible to even guess how many teacher units a school system stands to lose.

“I think a misconception is that this stimulus money is going to take care of all of our needs, and that is not the case,” he said.

Johnson said that, unlike several school officials he has seen quoted in the media since the meeting, he is not prepared to declare a number of jobs the money may be able to save in Cherokee County.

Morton and Riley announced last Monday that 3,790 teaching jobs would be saved for two years by the stimulus funds. On Thursday, citing 'glitches' in the interpretation of some of the stimulus language, the number was dropped to around 2,600 jobs.

“I think their [initial] number was taking into account the sheer number of teachers who could lose their jobs and then reducing it by the number the federal stimulus could pay for,” Johnson said. “I think the stimulus will help save some jobs but what people don't realize is that, here in Cherokee County, we have some additional issues.”

Johnson said locally-funded teacher units may have to be reduced. Also, the county school system lost close to a hundred students over the past year, which will adversely affect state funding levels.

And, again, no one will know those amounts until the Legislature passes a budget. Johnson said in the meantime, he and members of the Board of Education will stick to focusing on aspects of the school system's finances that they can control.

“Anytime you have a budget and then you are notified that you have to cut it by 12 percent, that's a problem,” he said.

Johnson said solving that problem requires planning for a multitude of scenarios. But he stressed again that it is too early to make predictions about teacher jobs.

“Right now, I feel good that we have plans in place and some federal funds coming in,” Johnson said. “Hopefully, that money can be used to save some jobs. But to say that we can save five jobs, or 10 jobs, that just can't be determined at this point.”