Reducing staff

The second half of the general fund budget equation — expenditures — hinges mostly on employees.
About 90 percent of Jay School Corporation’s general fund spending goes to pay salaries and benefits. The remaining 10 percent is spent on supplies, utilities, purchased services and equipment.
While Jay School Board has been discussing the possibility of closing one or more schools, the corporation’s focus in terms of saving money over the last few years has been on reducing employees.
Jay Schools had a total of 540 employees at the start of the 2013 school year. That number dropped to 522 in 2014 to 506 in 2015.
Over the last two decades the total employee count has been on a bit of a roller coaster ride. It was at 552 in 1997 before being gradually reduced by 11 percent to a low of 492 in 2003. The number hovered around the 500 mark from 2001 to 2006 before climbing to 548 in 2009. It dropped back into the 520s for a couple of years, increased to 540 in 2013 and has been on the decline since.
Increases and decreases in salaries and benefits don’t directly correlate with the employee count, in part because of longevity, raises and changes in insurance costs. (It’s also important to note that savings tend to trail staff reductions by a year because the fiscal year, which runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, does not match up with the school year.)
Salaries for Jay Schools employees were at a low of $13.5 million in 2003 before climbing steadily to nearly $16 million in 2010. They dropped to $15.6 million in 2011, and then hit a high of $16.1 million in 2013. They have gone down in each of the last two years, settling at $15.3 million for 2015.
Health insurance totals also don’t follow a linear pattern. They were at a low of $5.4 million in 2007, hit $6.7 million in 2009 and then fell back to $6.4 million in 2012. There was a spike to $7.4 million in 2013, and the number has been just over $7 million in each of the last two years.

Certified vs. support
In terms of the school budget, employees are broken down into two basic categories — certified and support.
For 2015, Jay School Corporation had 227 teachers, five librarians, five guidance counselors and 19 administrators for total its 256 certified staff members. Support staff included 83 instructional aides, 41 cooks, 31 custodians and fewer than 10 in a variety of other positions including mechanics, nurses and crossing guards for a total of 249.
In general, the number of certified staff and support staff have mirrored each other over the last two decades.
Certified staff was at 289 in 1997 before dipping into the 260s for a six-year span from 2001 through 2006 and then climbing back to 279 in 2008. Support staff was at 263 in 1997, slipped to 231 by 2006 and then climbed to a high of 272 in 2009.
Staff reductions over the last few years have come from both groups. Certified staff went from 275 in 2013 to 257 in 2015 while support staff went from 265 in 2013 to 249 two years later.
“We try to make all our cuts through attrition,” said Jay Schools superintendent Tim Long, referring to choosing to not replace employees who resign or retire as opposed to resorting to a reduction in force (RIF).
Certified staff salaries have the largest impact as they make up about half of the general fund spending. For 2015, just over $12 million was spent on certified staff compared to just under $3 million on support staff. Those numbers have held true over the course of the last decade, with certified staff generally making up 48 to 51 percent of the general fund spending while support staff comes in at between 11.7 and 12.8 percent.

Administrators
Most employees that are typically referred to as administrators fall under the certified staff category, but that does not always hold true.
For instance, business manager Brad DeRome is classified as support staff because he does not hold an administrative certificate. The same is true for director of transportation Teresa Myers and director of food service Karmella VanSkyock.
In terms of its official administrative count (those who are certified staff), Jay School Corporation has typically had 19 administrators for most of the last decade. That’s up from 16 in 2006.
They made up about 12 percent of the school corporation’s spending on certified staff in 2015, ranging in salary from $60,802 (for an acting principal) to $120,048 (superintendent).
The administrative staff for 2015 was made up of the following positions: superintendent, special education director, director of teacher effectiveness, director of testing, preschool director, one technology director, one high school principal, two high school assistant principals, two middle school principals, one middle school assistant principal and seven elementary school principals.
In looking at comparisons with other school districts of similar size, Jay School Corporation has a similar number of administrators. Both Jay and Mount Vernon have 19 administrators, while New Castle has 19.5. Fayette County School Corporation (Connersville) has 22.
“I think we’re pretty similar,” said Long. “I think when you compare to New Castle … or you compare to Mount Vernon … schools that are similar size, we are at the low end of the spectrum on the number of administrators that we have …
“I think we’ve been really efficient in the number of administrators we use to run the school district.”
Those positions have seen some changes over the years — the positions of assistant superintendent and director of facilities no longer exist while the director of teacher effectiveness, director of testing and preschool director have been added. Long noted changes over the last decade, including an increase from about 60 preschool students to the current 350, the requirement for more extensive teacher evaluations and the increase in dual credit courses, as some of the reasons for the need for the new positions.
One of the suggestions presented at Jay School Board meetings has been the possibility of reducing the administrative staff to save money.
“I’ve said all along I’m not opposed to reducing administration,” said Long. “But my view of it is if we’re sitting on schools ranging from 73 to 320, if you compare us to those other districts, some of those districts only have two or three elementaries.
“It’s not going to change the (administrative) responsibility levels that we have. … You have certain functions that need to be covered.”