Equitable Cuts Across the Districts

As we face budget cuts of historical nature, both Ogden and Weber Districts must make tough decisions of where the cuts will come. Weber School District has proposed (we have not finished negotiations yet) a cut of 1.5 quality teaching days, cuts in district administration (moved an administrator from the district office to a Jr. High), and other classified cuts. In Weber, insurance decisions are close to being finalized that will share the increases (made smaller by decisions of the committee) in premium across all employee groups. Steps and Lanes for teachers in Weber have been preserved. Yes, teachers will fill the pain, but the pain has been lessened by financial decisions the district has made over the past few years (mill levy increases and conservative budgets) . You don't have to look very far to see districts losing many or all of their quality teaching days, freezing steps and lanes, raising class sizes and cuttting staff. Your WEA negotiations team is meeting Thursday to look at policy changes and work to finalize negotiations. Both the legislature and our State Supt. have counseled the districts to make the cuts as equitable as possible. At least in Weber, we have seen the effort to do just that. Rick