Eugene teachers vote to cut pay to keep jobs
By John Tierney KVAL NewsEUGENE, Ore. - Teachers in the Eugene School District unanimously agreed to cut their own pay next school year in the hope they will avoid layoffs. The teachers voted Monday night to cut seven days of work in the 2009-2010 school year, a move that equals a 3.5 percent pay cut. A Eugene school district spokeswoman said the cuts must now be approved by the school board, which requested the cuts. The concessions should help the Eugene School District deal with a projected $16 million shortfall next school year. Six of the proposed seven days are what teachers call "non-instruction" days. Those are days when they are not teaching students. They include planning days, professional development days and a state training day. The seventh cut day will be a teaching day, meaning students could have at least one less day of class. That exact date in the school year has not been determined. The co-presidents of the Eugene Education Association said the vote to cut the days was unanimous among teachers. Union co-presidents Paul Duchin and Merri Steele said the cuts are necessary to avoid layoffs. They hope the cuts will allow the district to keep 29 teachers that might have been lost otherwise. Still, they anticipate some cuts are inevitable. They estimate about 34 teaching positions will be lost next year. Duchin and Steele hope the brunt of those losses will be covered by attrition and retiring teachers but said some teachers might get pink slips. All told, they hope the cuts don't mean students suffer, but they said class sizes could get larger. They added that with the cut days, teachers will have less time to plan lessons and get training. "I don't think anyone will notice a difference," Duchin said, "but over time people will notice an impact." "Teachers will continue to do the great jobs they always do," Steele added. Teachers would still have the opportunity to attend training and in-service on cut days, but they wouldn't be paid on those days. The Eugene school board will discuss the proposed cuts on April 15. |
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