Broward Teachers To Rally For Their Future

FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) - Hundreds of teachers, parents, students and community leaders descended on downtown Fort Lauderdale Tuesday with a simple message for school district leaders: save teacher's jobs.

Protesters were angry that the school district is cutting 1,400 teaching positions to fill a $141 million dollar budget gap.

Teacher D'Andrea Brown was told last week that her job at Arthur Ashe Middle School was being eliminated.

"As of June 9, I have no job," Brown said. "It's just to (board members) a budget and we're just numbers."

The Broward Teacher's Union said it has identified $70 million in budget cuts that could save teacher's jobs. The Union said the District ignored the recommendations.

The cuts included:

•  Cutting all Elementary School Assistant Principals and turning their duties over to other staff. Savings: $14 million.
•  Eliminating one of two area regional offices that is housed in the same location. Savings: $11 million.
•  Reducing unnecessary printing costs. Savings: $10 million.
•  Adding ten minutes to each school day and adding an extra off day to several holidays. Savings: $2.6 million
•  Reducing overtime for bus drivers. Savings $2 million.

The Union also recommends that the District use $15 million in leftover federal stimulus funding.

School Board Member Maureen Dinnen said she, too, is frustrated by the cuts. She explained that 700 of the teaching positions were hires from last year paid for by stimulus dollars. She said those teachers were told those were one-time dollars and they likely would not be re-hired.

The other 700 job cuts are 1st and 2nd year teachers and there's not enough money for them, Dinnen said.

"This is a very, very difficult time," Dinnen told CBS 4's Carey Codd. "We're a fine district and I am seeing us be literally torn apart by a lack of state funding."

Teacher Marta Nelson recently learned that she's being surplussed -- which means there's no room for her at her current school. She's not sure if she'll be able to find another job even though she earned state recognition this year for the improvements made by her students on the FCAT.

"I need my income," she said. "I need my paycheck but beside that I do love my job. I do love what I do and I can't think about doing something else."

Teacher Jillian Haring said the bottom line for parents and students is simple: there will be more students in classes and fewer extras for students.

"They're gonna see classes that are over class size," Haring said. "They're gonna see teachers that have no supplies. At my school alone, we were given only one box of Xerox paper this year."

Also Tuesday, at a School Board workshop, the school board discussed a number of budget cut recommendations. No decisions were made on specific cuts.

The School Board also went back to the drawing board on selecting an Interim Superintendent to replace Superintendent Jim Notter. It was discovered that the Interim needs to have a Master's degree. The only internal candidate who applied was School District Chief Operating Officer Donnie Carter. He does not have a Master's degree.

The School Board also agreed to hire a company -- Ray and Associates -- to conduct the search for a permanent superintendent. The cost of the search is not to exceed $60,000.

Notter retires at the end of June.