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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > November > 14 > Entry
Mack and Lucas answer your questions
After tonight’s school board finance committee meeting I cornered Dayton school Superintendent Percy Mack and Treasurer Stan Lucas and did your bidding — I asked them some of the questions that Get on the Bus readers have been asking here in the comments.
Here’s what they had to say:
—Administrative cuts. The teachers’ union has argued administrative cuts in the proposals were less severe than the classroom-based cuts and told its members that there is one administrator for every 16 teachers.
Lucas said roughly 15 percent of the district’s administrators are paid for by state and federal programs and do not affect the general fund budget, which is where the crisis lies. Administration, overall, makes up about 5 percent of the district’s budget, he said. This is a contentious issue. School leaders argue that many administrative jobs are required by the state and federal programs, or needed to support those programs, but shouldn’t count against the district since no local money is going toward them.
But union leaders and other critics say the district is top heavy, that it could cut from the central office to save money that could be used to restore academic cuts.
Mack said top school leaders have pared administrative jobs consistently since he took over in 2002 and that he made a conscious effort to move administrators to state and federal funding. More administrative cuts are still to come, he said.
“The administration is far smaller than it was in 2002,” he said.”When I came here, state and federal programs bought things, not people. Now they pay for people.”
Lucas said he would try to get me breakdown of administrators — how many are at the schools, how many are funded by state and federal programs and how many work at the Ludlow buildings. I’ll let you know what those numbers look like when I get them.
—Athletics. Some teachers have complained that the district is cutting back on high school courses and adjunct faculty but planning to maintain expensive sports like football even into next year. They argued that the district’s rationale that sports like football, basketball and volleyball generate revenue or are high interest is not enough to choose them over academic programs.
Dayton does not make huge revenue off its sports programs. In fact, a portion of Tuesday’s meeting was spent on the continuing concern of Welcome Stadium. By year’s end, the district plans to make Welcome an “enterprise fund,” one that is supposed to be a business enterprise and expected to pay for itself.
The district has had a hard time figuring out exactly what Welcome costs because its operations are so intermingled with the athletic department funds. This move is designed to separate it out, in part to make it easier to judge the success of the district’s new partnership with the University of Dayton to jointly manage the stadium.
Mack said basketball is probably the one sport that pays for itself through ticket sales, but that the other choices for what sports to save were driven by a desire to offer some athletic programs in the areas kids had the most interest.
“You have a lot of participation in those sports. They fill those teams completely,” he said.
—Adjunct arts faculty. Mack said observers should view the cuts globally, rather than pit one program vs. another and argue for taking one cut out to keep another program in. The cuts, he said, were designed to be spread across all areas of the operation.
In addition to cuts in adjunct faculty for arts, he said, there are also cutbacks in course offerings and larger class sizes at other top academic programs like the Dayton Early College Academy and Colonel White’s academic magnet program.
Mack said the initial discussions about adjuncts might have resulted in even deeper cuts sooner but that administrators backed off some of the early cuts.
“It’s hard to have any area that’s untouched,” he said. “We want to keep the staff in place everywhere as much as possible. We really pushed those cuts back as far as we could.”
Permalink | Comments (11) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Comments
By dps teacher
November 16, 2006 1:31 PM | Link to this
wouldn’t it be nice if the board would have responded to the results of our vote…nothing like stretching out until forever…i understand that they are legally bound by certain things, but they have not even informed us if they are planning to go back to the bargining tableBy Scott Elliott
November 16, 2006 12:52 PM | Link to this
The board is in a bit of a pickle. Luckie gets a huge senority advantaged by being named to the statehouse now instead of January. Politically, he had no choice but to resign and grab that opportunity. But Ohio law prevents members from meeting until seven board members are seated. Applications are being accepted and the board hopes to do interviews in the first week of December. I expect they will name someone quickly after that.By DPS Parent
November 16, 2006 12:42 PM | Link to this
Scott, Is it true the reason the Board is not meeting is because Clayton Luckie resigned and theyb have not replaced him? When are they going to announce his replacement?By daytondriver
November 16, 2006 9:59 AM | Link to this
One question I would LOVE for the board members to answer: Why does the board hold meetings at times when it is obvious that the vast majority of the working public cannot attend (i.e. meetings at 7:30 a.m.)By Jacob Foskuhl
November 15, 2006 6:46 PM | Link to this
Okay- thanks for clarifying, Mr. Elliott.By Scott Elliott
November 15, 2006 6:00 PM | Link to this
Just to clarify, Tuesday’s meeting was not an official board meeting. It was the finance committee, made up of three board members and a handful of administrators chaired by board member Lee Massoud. It is open to the public and other board members do come to observe (there were four there last night — Massoud, Littlejohn, Issacs and Gallin). There actually was no discussion of the cuts. Everything I reported on came from questions I asked Percy Mack and Stan Lucas after the meeting. Most of my questions came directly from GOTB comments.By Jacob Foskuhl
November 15, 2006 5:37 PM | Link to this
I find it hard to believe that arts adjunct cuts are ‘global’, considering the only other school besides Stivers with arts adjunct is Colonel White (with 3). If they suggested cutting around 28, then Stivers would lose 25- almost all of them. That would devastate the Arts magnet program at our school- a reward for not only pulling out of academic emergency, but passing state school requirements and producing test scores that rival Centerville and Oakwood. I would have loved to attend the meeting for full details, but (after next week’s meeting was cancelled) the secretary at the Board of Education building told me that no more meetings were scheduled for the near future. Interesting.By lou
November 15, 2006 9:11 AM | Link to this
It is not only the aaministrator, it is also the staffing that goes with that administator. TOO MANY $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ THEREBy Keith
November 15, 2006 8:14 AM | Link to this
“Federal funds used to buy things” (like those used in the classroom and to educate kids?) and now they will “pay for people” (in administration only?). That pretty much says DPS’s problems in a nutshell.By Mary
November 15, 2006 7:32 AM | Link to this
Sounds to me like Mack is protecting sacred cows instead of setting educational priorities. I know it is tough to undo decades of damage, but then he gets big bucks to help work some miracles and show some leadership. I found the sports excuses a little lame. He seems to have slipped his entertainment hat on. Kids are also interested in steroids, designer clothes, and MTV. I guess he should provide those also. I doubt basketball - usually 15 students on a team out of thousands of students - generate enough revenue to offset facility costs and maintenance, overtime bus drivers, trainers, supplemental coaching salaries, athletic director salaries, etc. Most of the students are being hyped to be spectators, not players. I question spectatorship and bench seating as an academic mission.By Barb
November 15, 2006 7:14 AM | Link to this
Nice to see the “Good Ole Boy” politics is still up and running at DPS. No we certainly can not spare any administrators because now Dr. Mack is going to play sematics with our students. I guess the state auditors are wrong about how top heavy our administrations is. I would think if so many administrators have been moved to Federal funds that still means we have the same amount but justify them differently now. What happened to to Gail Littlejohn’s comment that no position was sacred. I guess that meant no position that affects my child directly. Did anyone else notice that there was no denial of a 1:16 ratio? I wish my son’s classes were that size.