Schools Are Set to Open, But Staffing Is Unsettled

Imagine a parent sending a child off to kindergarten and then learning, a week or two later, that the child's teacher is being transferred to another school and the students scattered unceremoniously among other classrooms.

That is more or less the worst-case scenario for the Montgomery County public schools, as administrators look for ways to balance a budget that is not rising quite apace with the costs of doing business. Students begin the school year Tuesday.

The County Council approved an operating budget of $2.07 billion in May for the fiscal year that began last month. The $82 million increase -- $44 million less than requested -- is 4 percent over the previous year's $1.99 billion budget. Superintendent Jerry D. Weast has warned it is not enough to meet the school system's obligations in employee pay and benefits.

As a result, the school system is cutting jobs. The net loss is 66 positions, a figure that might sound insignificant in a school system of nearly 22,000 employees. Many jobs must be shifted, however, to cover an increase in students served in special education and English for Speakers of Other Languages. That means other areas must lose positions, including classroom teacher positions.

"Every year that I have been on the board, I have received large numbers of calls from parents begging for additional staff," said Patricia O'Neill (Bethesda-Chevy Chase), a longtime school board member. "This is usually the case the first day or first week of school. It has been limited to one or two schools. This year will be different."

School system officials say they have found several ways to cut jobs without affecting classrooms, maneuvers they say will be invisible to parents and students, although teachers have protested.

Affected are several categories of master teachers, former classroom teachers now in various leadership roles, particularly in high schools. High school literacy coaches, for example, will go from no classroom duties to teaching two classes each. High school math and English resource teachers, who mentor other teachers and who last year taught three classes each, will teach four. Teachers who oversee high school academies and signature programs will teach one or two more classes this year than last. Teachers at some magnet programs for highly gifted students will teach additional classes.

Eight principal intern positions have been cut. The principal training program remains, but the trainees will work as assistant principals, rather than working with principals.

Other planned cuts will affect teachers and students in regular classrooms, although the impact might be subtle.

Administrators will allow elementary classes to grow slightly larger this year before assigning additional teachers to a school. Class size in the first grade, for example, is capped at 26. Last year, if class size reached 27 in all first-grade classes, a new teacher would be added. This year, the class size must reach 28.

Parents are keenly aware of class-size fluctuations. Each fall, the first day of school sets off complaints from schools where too many students show up in a particular grade, leaving classrooms crowded until help arrives. Parents are especially attuned to class size this year, given the lean budget.

"Parents would be greatly disappointed in the school system taking steps backwards in relation to class size," said Kay Romero, president of the Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations.