Duluth School Board approves final round of layoffs
June 19, 2012 at 5:10 pm in Duluth News Tribune
The teacher cuts will help the district to close a $3.8 million budget gap.
The cuts include eight non-tenured teachers and 21 tenured teachers. Another six non-tenured teachers were cut in May. Continue Reading
At the risk of sounding like a broken record – Johnston is right. If we weren’t transferring 4.5 million per year out of the general fund to make payments on the Red Plan (for the next 16 or 17 years anyway) then we wouldn’t be forced to make such deep cuts. Skeptics out there will give the “different pots of money” excuse but look back on news trib articles – it has been printed and they don’t print it without confirming it. Also, still don’t believe ? Take a look at the “before red plan” vs “after red plan” – there is a very easily & trackable transfer annually of 4.? million from the general fund to the buildings fund & coincidently the same amount then is the payment. Johnson Controls promised that all those “efficiencies” and “savings” were going to add up to so much that it would save us the 5 million that we would have to pay annually…but guess what? No performance contract. No guarantees…and no where near the savings they promised. Remember that we were told they had to do the red plan so they could keep “quality programs” – and now we are laying off so many teachers. Where was Frank Wanner when all this was predicted years ago? He is right though… Olympic size pools (judy seliga punkyo’s pet project) and a second public school stadium at east so they don’t have to bother sharing the one at Denfeld…these and so many other unnecessary additions to the original Red Plan.
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Trust me, it’s not a broken record you sound like.
To explain it yet again. The LRFP (what you call the Red Plan) transfers roughly 5 million per year from the general fund to pay back bonds. If the LRFP hadn’t happened, that 5 million dollars would have been going to pay the operational costs of Central and the other closed schools. Which is to say, even if there was no LRFP there wouldn’t be any more money for teachers because we’d be spending that 5 million per year (and possibly more) on buiildings that would be even more out of date and run down.
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Doug….not quite true! If the Red Plan had not happened…..the way that it did…..the budget would have been quite a bit different…..as Dixon and the board already incorporated the “savings” into the current budgets……only, the savings have NEVER materialized…..YET…..and quite frankly….they never will….even remotely come close to what they budgeted…..we cannot have it both ways….they sugar coated the plan to be able to pull this boondoggle off….only now, the savings etc will not give back to the budget…..as there are no savings…..then the board will cry in their beer, saying the local taxpayer will not support education for the kids…..they try to pass a levy….it fails ( because of the way things were handled in the first place )…..so the levy is voted down……so they overcome this by forcing another 5.9% on the taxpayer…..anyway! Against the taxpayers objections! Mark my words…the tax increases HAVE NOT stopped….by any means….and are going to only increase…..due to salaries, benefits, maint. etc…..and guess what……still no operating funds for supplies etc. What on earth were they thinking…..on this whole thing? Johnson Controls…..Dixon…..and a board who did not even get to read the contract….HUH? Pretty damn slippery……and very stinky……too!
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