State budget deficit has Chaska teachers, students preparing for the worst

Crunch time is here for the Eastern Carver County (Chaska) School District and its teachers.

The school board voted last week to terminate 83 teacher contracts, including about a dozen tenured teachers. However, every teacher could be called back if state K-12 funding remains unchanged and teachers agree to a hard wage freeze that the district proposed in April.

The teachers' union will begin negotiating their new contract, including the wage freeze, in a few weeks. Until then, the district will continue to make decisions based on its "worst-case scenario," which plans for a 2 percent cut in state school funding and no wage freeze.

Under the current plan, every classroom would increase in size by about three kids, and that prospect has struck a nerve with parents, teachers and students alike. They pleaded with school board members last week to reconsider the reduction of teachers, raising concerns about how larger class sizes would affect student performance and questioning whether high-performing learners would get the attention they need.

"I'll teach whoever you give me, but ... we're going to have a hard time being innovational if we've got 45 kids in the classroom," said Jamie Crannel, a science teacher at Chaska High.

High school classes would go from an average of 29 students to 32. Under the worst-case scenario, about a dozen classes would have more than 40 students, including drawing 3, electronics and zoology.

Elaine Kustritz, a junior at Chaska High, told the board that many students feel angry and betrayed because of the teachers who are getting pink-slipped. "A lot of them are our favorites and are amazing teachers," she said.

Kustritz said she knows students who are planning to leave the district to attend neighboring schools. Unless something changes, she said she's planning to take online classes rather than returning to school in the fall. "Don't take away our teachers," she pleaded.

Some of the 83 teachers who received pink slips will be asked back in different roles, said Superintendent David Jennings. If the worst-case scenario becomes a reality, he estimated that about 70 of the teachers would not be back next year, including 45 full-time teachers. The district has 531 teachers this school year, according to the state Department of Education.

Jennings said he shares the concerns of many that the district could lose some of its best teachers. And he acknowledged that by the time they're called back, some will have accepted jobs elsewhere. Some already have, Jennings said.

"They are good teachers. They are young teachers and are up-to-date on what's going on," he said.

Most of the tenured teachers who were let go are physical education teachers, because of changes to the phy-ed program as part of a secondary curriculum redesign. "The reality is we'll probably find positions for most of those people," Jennings said. "They'll know soon."

Despite the fact that Gov. Tim Pawlenty already signed a bill that would keep school funding unchanged from this school year to next, the district continues to base its budget decisions on its worst-case scenario reflecting a 2 percent cut.

In an interview, Jennings said he now believes the worst-case scenario "isn't going to happen," but he told the board he's "nervous" about implementing a rosier picture until the governor finishes trimming state spending and the teacher pay negotiations are completed.

Some teachers question whether a wage freeze would lead to smaller class sizes.

"I've not been assured ... that a wage freeze would mean there wouldn't be teacher cuts," said Tim Griffin, president of the Chaska Education Association. "Those are two different choices that the board has to make, along with others they could make in terms of priorities."

Negotiations are scheduled to resume June 16, and Jennings anticipates they could be completed by late July.

Awkward as it would be to hire back people who've been laid off, Jennings said that if state funding remains flat, a third of the teachers who've been let go would be called back. And if the teachers' union agrees to the wage freeze, the other two-thirds would be asked to return as well.

"It's an interesting time. It's always the case that some things are out of our control," Jennings said. "But this time, so many things are out of our control."

Aimée Blanchette • 612-673-1715