Plainfield School Board to begin talks on budget cuts
PLAINFIELD--With the task of trimming its $16 million deficit in the operating fund, Plainfield School Board will hold a special meeting Thursday to figure out how to do it.
But the 6 p.m. meeting at the administration building is going to be held behind closed doors despite The Herald-News' request that the board discuss its suggestions to dwindle the deficit in front of the public.
School board President Rod Westfall said since the board will be discussing cuts that could affect personnel the meeting can be held behind closed doors.
Westfall said he didn't want to cause undue panic by people hearing ideas, such as cutting 300 positions.
In Westfall's first phone interview on Friday, he said the meeting was a brainstorming session with administration, allowing board members to share ideas on how to cut the deficit. But in his second interview, he said the meeting was to talk about personnel and collective bargaining issues.
"If you talk about budget reductions and inner personnel, those go under the personnel category. You don't want to do that, set up a panic and start to getting stuff out there about possible stuff you're looking at doing. We don't know what we're doing yet," he said.
"You don't want to get people running into a panic say, 'Oh, my God, they are going to cut 300 jobs or whatever.' I'm not saying we are, but you never know. ... We are soliciting input from every area in the community to see how we can get through this mess," Westfall said, adding they are also soliciting help through state legislators for more funding.
"So there won't be any public conversation about the budget, reductions, etc.," he wrote.
However, Don Craven, attorney with the Illinois Press Association, said the board will violate the Open Meetings Act if they discuss budget trimming in a closed meeting.
"There is not an undue panic exemption in the Open Meetings Act," Craven said.
On Friday, The Herald-News e-mailed the school board and administration stating that the paper will take the issue to the Office of Illinois State's Attorney for review.
On Jan. 1, a new law goes into effect that gives a Public Access Counselor--an attorney at the state's attorney office--the ability to examine minutes of closed meetings to determine if there is a violation. Westfall did say Thursday's closed meeting will be taped as is done for all closed sessions.
Craven said the Open Meetings Act says the exemption for personnel is limited to specific employees while it seems that the board's intent is to talk about general approaches to the deficit problem -- not whether to cut salary by 4 percent. Those general discussions -- should we cut employee salaries -- are not covered by the exemption, he said.
However, Craven didn't think suggestions about reducing the deficit fit collective bargaining and give cause for the board to close the meeting to the public.
"It sounds more like the general policy issue of whether the board should approach the unions with a salary reduction request," he said.
The district is using data to identify and prioritize potential savings in operational areas first, and then personnel costs. Cuts directly affecting students would be made last, the district stated in a press release. By law, the deficit elimination strategy is posted on the district Web site.
The district cut 86 positions last spring to save $5 million, but more than likely will need to cut more jobs go reduce the deficit.
Karie Beck, president of the Association of Plainfield Teachers, said there have been no proposals for cuts to positions or programs, she said.
Beck said they did ask administration not to assume what the contract will look like while making budget cuts.
"You can't make assumptions that we are going to cut all (teacher assistants) because that's in the contract," Beck said as an example.
"These budget cuts are going to be hard because there isn't a lot of fat to cut," she said. "There are huge concerns. This is a big chunk of money. I've gotten a lot of very nervous non-tenure teachers."
Currently, there are about 2,000 teachers with about 800 who do not have tenure. If there are cuts to staff, non-tenure teachers must be notified within 45 calendar days from the end of the year. Tenure teachers must be notified within 60 calendar days, Beck said.
She has suggested that non-tenure teachers save 5 percent of their salary to prepare for a possible job loss.
The union has already suggested that the district administrators look into the possibility of holding off on curriculum revision work for one year. This step could save money on stipends given to teachers working on realigning the curriculum, Beck said. Money could also be saved on substitute teachers who are hired so the teachers can attend those curriculum meetings.
The union also suggested investigating the cost and need for eighth grade promotion night, understanding that the cut would concern parents, but could potentially save at least $8,000 at each of the seven middle schools, Beck said.
"Do we really need to have a promotion night?" Beck asked. "Is this really something that will save money? If we are nickel and diming and then everybody has to be nickeled and dimed. That suggestion has zero impact on the classroom, zero impact on the teachers. It's just a ceremony. But I know it would be very upsetting to parents."
While Thursday's meeting will be closed to public discussion, Westfall said people can discuss their ideas and concerns for the budget cuts during public comment at tonight's school board meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Meadow View Elementary School, 2501 Mirage Ave. in Joliet.
There is also a link on the district Web site, www.psd202.org, where people can post suggestions.
