St. Louis public school teachers agree to furloughs

By Mike Owens

KSDK -- Taking a page from corporate America, the St. Louis Public Schools are going to furlough all employees for a total of nine days starting during the December break.

The enforced layoffs will save the district $2 million, $11 million short of a deficit that has to be made up in other areas.

The way the furloughs will work is that all employees, including 12 month contract workers, like security officers and principals, will be forced to take their vacations, known as personal time off, during the days the schools will be closed in between Christmas and New Year's, and two days early next year.

The teacher's union, Local 420 of the American Federation of Teachers, is backing the furlough plan.

Byron Clemens, a vice president of the union, says the furloughs spread the pain among all the workers, not just a few who get laid off permanently. Clemens says it's about saving jobs for all the workers, and if furloughs do that, then the union is in favor.

Now, Superintendent Kelvin Adams must find $11 million more to trim and he says he will "look under all the rocks" to find it.

Those "rocks" include transportation costs and food service. He says that if more students can be fed at school, morning and afternoon, the district will actually make money. That's because school feeding programs are funded by federal funds, which go up with more students eating.

Adams is holding firm on permanent layoffs and closing schools. In fact, he says he must come up with the cuts by the next school board meeting in December, and says the cuts he proposes won't need approval by the school board, which means no layoffs or school closings are included.

While the unions and the district are working together, there is a stumbling block and $80,000 stumbling block. Adams confirms that salaries for high level district employees are $80,000 higher this year than last, and says it's due to some new hires.

The union leader says those salaries are questionable in light of the tight budget, but there's little the union can do to change the hiring. Adams says steps will be taken to get those higher level salaries in line. What steps he would not say.