By Ann Doss Helms
ahelms@charlotteobserver.com

About 560 educators - including teachers, librarians and counselors - face layoffs next year under guidelines the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board approved Tuesday.

Approval of layoff criteria is the first step toward a worst-case 2011 budget scenario that would cut jobs to trim $100 million from the CMS budget. The plan Superintendent Peter Gorman presented Tuesday calls for laying off 395 teachers and 164 education support positions.

If the board votes to scale back on Bright Beginnings prekindergarten, those teachers would be added with a separate list of criteria.

The vote was 6-3, with the majority saying Gorman’s plan is, in Tom Tate’s words, “the fairest and best way forward” on an odious necessity.

“I don’t want to have to cut the number of teachers we will probably be cutting this year,” Tate said. “I don’t think anybody wants to do that.”

Hundreds of other CMS employees, including central-office administrators, are expected to lose their jobs, but those cuts do not require a board vote.

Non-tenured teachers who have low performance ratings or licensure problems would be the first to lose their jobs, along with those who are working under short-term arrangements.

If they don’t have those problems, some non-tenured teachers would be protected: Those finishing their first year of Teach For America, those recruited to help with “strategic staffing” turnarounds at struggling schools, and those in hard-to-fill jobs such as math, science, special education, English as a second language and Montessori.

Evaluation form criticized

Board member Kaye McGarry said she wouldn’t vote for the layoff plan because she doesn’t think the teacher evaluation form, which is mandated by the state, identifies teachers who aren’t helping their kids learn. Gorman agreed, calling it “woefully short,” and said CMS is working on a better way to evaluate and pay teachers.

But for now, he said, “we have to use it by law.” The current evaluations do provide meaningful information about teacher quality, even if they’re not perfect, he said.

This is the third consecutive year CMS has pink-slipped teachers and other staff because of shrinking budgets.

The actual number of layoffs remains in flux as teachers retire or resign and those spots are filled. Teachers who lack tenure will be notified by May 15 if they are being laid off.

CMS could call some teachers back during the summer if state or county officials provide more money than expected.

Seeking alternatives

Before the meeting, about 15 people representing the NAACP, Save Our Schools, Waddell High and other groups called on Gorman and the board to look for alternatives to cutting teachers, closing schools and eliminating Bright Beginnings classes. Waddell is one of 10 schools, most located in low-income neighborhoods, that the board has voted to close next year.

Kojo Nantambu, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg branch of the NAACP, said those budget cuts fall most heavily on poor and minority families. He urged CMS officials to instead consider furloughs and pay cuts, with the highest-paid employees taking the biggest cuts.

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