Crosby ISD to lay off dozens of teachers amid financial crisis

A Crosby resident not wanting to be identified, dries her tears as the Crosby Independent School District board of trustees terminate the contract termination of some staff members, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, in Crosby. less A Crosby resident not wanting to be identified, dries her tears as the Crosby Independent School District board of trustees terminate the contract termination of some staff members, Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, in ... more Photo: Marie D. De Jesús, Staff Photographer Photo: Marie D. De Jesús, Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close Crosby ISD to lay off dozens of teachers amid financial crisis 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

At least 34 teachers and other contract-based employees in Crosby ISD will lose their jobs in the coming weeks after the northeast Houston-area’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously Monday to institute mid-year layoffs amid a full-blown financial crisis.

Combined with those who resigned or retired after officials in August announced the district’s dire financial situation, about 57 contracted employees have left the district this school year.

Superintendent Scott Davis said his administration informed affected staff members that their contracts would be terminated earlier this month.

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Davis read aloud the names or position of each person who was cut to the crowd of about 100. One trustee was absent.

“We’re going to have to develop a new normal for what we’re going to do as a school district,” Davis said after the meeting. “But we’re still going to have school - we had it today, we’re going to have it tomorrow. Kids are going to have a great education because our staff is wonderful.”

Some at-will employees - which include bus drivers, custodians and paraprofessionals - will also be laid off as district officials try to cut at least $5.5 million in payroll expenses out of its budget. An official tally on the number of these employees who will be forced out will not be available until later this week.

Among those whose jobs were axed Monday: the district’s director of transportation, librarians, curriculum coordinators, special education specialists, curriculum coordinators, behavior specialists, athletic coaches and teachers from Kindergarten to high school. All librarian positions were cut, as were all special education behavioral specialists, testing coordinators and science curriculum coordinators.

Rachel Newberry said she was told on Oct. 5 that the district would eliminate all librarian positions, including her job at Charles R. Drew Elementary School. She decided to resign and find a job in another school district rather than wait to be let go. Her last day will be next week.

She said her job in Crosby was much more than scanning books. Over the past 10 years, she updated the school’s book collection to better reflect curriculum and the school’s culture. When she began, about 90 percent of the books contained Caucasian characters only, even though white students comprise only about 13 percent of students. She sought out authors of color and purchased books for the school’s growing number of bilingual students.

“It is deeply hurtful that you feel my skills are considered a luxury - something that is expendable, something my students can go without,” she told the board during public comments. “Who will take on this role? Who will make sure my bilingual students are provided the resources they need? Who will select books that best reflect my school?”

The dozens of mid-year layoffs represent the latest fallout of a financial crisis that has nearly driven the 6,000-student district to the brink of financial insolvency.

District leaders first learned of a series of “cash flow” issues in June, months after the departure of former Superintendent Keith Moore and weeks after former Chief Financial Officer Carla Merka left to take the top finance job at the much larger Pasadena ISD.

Those cash-flow issues stem from three issues, according to current CFO Lesa Jones: over-spending on construction projects, shoddy budgeting and bloated payroll costs.

While little is known about the problematic construction spending, annual audits of the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school years show officials over-estimated revenues by millions and spent millions more than originally budgeted. Those accounting mistakes led the district to spend a total of $15 million more than they collected in revenues during those two years.

At a Sept. 17 meeting, Jones and Davis also said the district spends a larger percentage of its general fund on salaries and benefits than what is considered financially prudent.

Most school districts spend about 80 percent of their general fund budgets on payroll, but in 2017-2018, Jones said Crosby ISD spent 88 percent of that budget on salaries and benefits. The district was slated to spend 89 percent on those costs this year, even after officials instituted a hiring freeze this summer.

Davis said in order to have enough money on hand to continue to operate, and to squirrel some money away into the district’s nearly depleted rainy day savings account, the district would need to cut $5.5 million from the budget through lay-offs.

The district was only able to cut those jobs after trustees voted unanimously on Oct. 8 to declare an official financial emergency, or financial exigency. While there are more than 1,000 traditional ISDs in Texas, only 15 other districts have declared the status since 2012, after the Texas Education Agency made it more difficult for districts to qualify. The designation grants districts some legal exemptions and allows them to do some emergency financial maneuvering, such as laying off teachers.

The job cuts for contracted employees approved Monday would have been larger in scale if not for others leaving voluntarily. Jones said about 40 people with contracts have either retired or resigned since spring — 23 of them left this school year.

For some, including Newberry, the resignations felt more forced than willful.

“Obviously this has been stressful — it’s not easy for school employees to find a job in the middle of the year,” Newberry said. “This (school) year has been heart-breaking. Everyone is upset — your coworkers start crying when they see you because they know you’re leaving. When you’ve been working with them every day for 10 years, you become like family. It’s like losing a family member.”