No wonder Broward does better than Duval

From the Sun Sentinel, By Robert Nolin, Sun Sentinel

Broward school officials Wednesday outlined a drastic departure from previous years in staff levels for the upcoming term: hundreds of new teaching jobs, a staggering cut in layoffs, and a renewed emphasis on classes such as art and music.

In stark contrast to last year, when the district eliminated about 1,500 teachers, this year Superintendent Robert Runcie said 678 teaching positions will be created.

Many of those hires will teach sorely missed specialized classes, which have suffered under previous cuts.

"The district was able to redirect resources to the classrooms to focus on meeting class-size mandates and restoring specialties like art, music and PE at the elementary school level," district spokeswoman Tracy Clark said.

Layoffs will total 395. Of those, 380 will be non-instructional positions, such as administrators, and not teachers.

"Early on the superintendent said there would be reductions at the central administration level to redirect funds to the classroom," Clark said.

"That's great news to me," said Marlene Sanders, guidance director at Cypress Bay High School in Weston. "Sounds like things are going in the right direction."

Part of the reason for the new jobs is so Broward County can meet state mandates limiting class size. The county was fined $66 million by the state for failing to meet those requirements, but was able to reduce the penalty to $8.5 million.

"We cannot continue to receive penalties for not meeting state mandates on class size," Runcie said.

The new positions will largely be filled by previously laid off teachers. The positions are being added despite dropping enrollment in the district and a switch next school year to seven-period schedules instead of lengthier block sessions at Broward's 31 high schools.

Both those issues should have resulted in a loss of more than 430 teaching positions, Runcie said. But budget slashing in administration costs opened up the purse strings for the new jobs.

"I am happy that they're getting rid of some of the waste downtown," Gretchen Marfisi, an art teacher at Orangebrook Elementary School in Hollywood, said of the administrative cuts.

The district also plans not to renew yearly contracts for 197 contract teachers, or those who have yet to achieve a measure of tenure after four years in the classroom. Sixty-eight non-teaching contract jobs will not be renewed.

The Broward Teachers Union, often a staunch critic of the district, declined to comment on the new staffing plan.

But it won over Maureen McHugh, a second-grade teacher at McNab Elementary School in Pompano Beach.

"This new School Board, I'm starting to see some change in favor of the teachers and the educational system as a whole," she said. "It absolutely is encouraging. Let's see how it all plays out."

Anthony Tabacco, a music teacher at Sunshine Elementary School in Miramar, was one of the contract teachers who will be laid off. But come fall, he expects to be back instructing kids on the finer points of the musical scale.

"I am optimistic," he said. "I was told by my principal it looks good that I will get my position back."

He too endorsed the new staffing plan. "I feel they are making leaps and bounds in the right direction," he said.

rnolin@tribune.com or 954-356-4525

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-teacher-layoffs-broward-2-20120606,0,4802586,print.story