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Chancellor Dennis Walcott Blasted by Council Over Teacher Cuts

By DNAinfo Staff on June 1, 2011 5:23pm  | Updated on June 1, 2011 5:06pm

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

CITY HALL — City Council members blasted Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott Wednesday over threats to cut more than 6,000 teachers, questioning the city's numbers and insisting there are better ways to cut costs.

"Teacher layoffs are just unacceptable," said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who slammed Mayor Michael Bloomberg's budget plan as "drastic" and "draconian."

The administration maintains that unprecedented cuts in state and federal funding are forcing it to eliminate 6,100 teaching jobs: 2,000 via attrition and 4,100 through layoffs. If enacted, the move would be the first significant teacher layoffs in the city in decades.

As Walcott tried to justify the layoffs to frustrated Council members at a budget hearing that lasted through the early afternoon, Quinn released a list of $75 million in alternate cuts the Council said could ease the layoff burden.

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said class sizes will likely increase by about two students per class.
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said class sizes will likely increase by about two students per class.
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DNAinfo/Jill Colvin

The suggestions include saving $4 million by retraining existing teachers instead of recruiting new ones, saving $13.2 million by cutting technology spending, and saving $280,000 by cutting three of the DOE’s 13-person press team.

The $75 million would save at least 1,000 teachers, based on administration figures.

"Our priority is preventing layoffs and finding other places, not in the classroom, where cuts could come from," she said.

Meanwhile, the Independent Budget Office released its own rebuttal as Walcott spoke, publishing a new analysis that argues the mayor's plan over-states the need for teacher layoffs by more than 1,600 positions.

"The calculation of the savings cited by the Mayor and the Schools Chancellor from these reductions significantly overstate the number of layoffs needed to meet the budget target," the IBO report claims.

The report says savings from attrition could be almost $104 million higher than the current budget states, because teachers who leave voluntarily are likely to be higher-paid than those who are laid off.

Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for the mayor, refuted the analysis, arguing that savings from attrition do not come from people retiring, but from not hiring new people to replace them.

At the hearing, Council members also provided their own ideas for cost-saving, including scrutinizing contracts with private firms, which provide everything from special education to food service at city schools.

"These people are ripping us off... They're ripping us blind!" charged Upper Manhattan Councilman Robert Jackson, the education committee chair.

"I truly believe you will find hundreds of millions of dollars," he said.

Others questioned the administration's claims that class sizes will increase by only about two students per class under the current layoff plan.

If a grade has five or six classes today and one is eliminated, class sizes in that grade would spike by five or six students, said Queens Councilman Daniel Dromm, a former public school teacher.

Despite the mounting criticism, Walcott said the department has done everything it can to reign in spending and has no other choice but to streamline staff.

"Our budget situation remains extremely challenging given the fiscal realities we are facing as a city, state and nation," he said.

While a date for layoff notices has not yet been set, principals will be informed of their fate "sometime in the very near future," he said. Principals and other school leaders are set to meet with Walcott at a conference this Saturday.

Ahead of the hearing, a crowd of lawmakers, parents, union leaders and even "Third Rock from the Sun"d    actress Kristen Johnston rallied outside of City Hall to voice their opposition to the cuts.

"Is this really the message you want to give to your kids? Your education doesn’t matter?" Johnston asked the enthusiastic crowd, many of whom waved placards criticizing the mayor.

"This will define your legacy!" she said.

District 6 Parent Leader Judith Amaro called the layoffs "a disgrace,” and said the DOE should be adding teachers, not firing them.

"Enough is enough!" said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who said the DOE could save "tens of millions" by cutting back on consultants and scaling down technology investments.

The Council and Bloomberg have until the end of the month to reach an agreement on the budget.