Oklahoma City schools cutting 92 jobs

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A $16 million cut in state funding will force Oklahoma City schools to eliminate 92 administrative and support jobs. <br><br>Superintendent Bill Weitzel said Thursday the cuts will

Friday, December 6th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A $16 million cut in state funding will force Oklahoma City schools to eliminate 92 administrative and support jobs.

Superintendent Bill Weitzel said Thursday the cuts will save the district about $1.25 million for the rest of the school year.

Of the positions being eliminated, 66 are now filled. The remaining 26 were vacant through attrition and other factors.

Seventy of the jobs are in the central administrative office, including accounting, human resources and academic services.

The remaining 22 positions were in the service center, which provides maintenance, printing and warehouse services.

Letters are being mailed this week to people who will no longer be employed with the district. Most positions will be eliminated by January.

The district has no plans to lay off teachers but may have to if state aid continues to drop, Weitzel said.

``These are particularly difficult times for school districts across our state and the Oklahoma City district is no exception,'' Weitzel said. ``The sustained budget cuts from the state and increased operating costs over the prior year continue to compound our financial situation.''

Weitzel said district administrators went through their budgets line by line to find programs to cut.

Officials looked at what positions could be merged, and tenure with the district was not a guarantee of job security, school board chairman Cliff Hudson said.

``The focus of this is still to try and preserve school-level and classroom-level programs,'' Hudson said. ``It doesn't mean that if the dollars keep falling that we can maintain that.''

The reduction is a 20-percent cut in positions at the central offices and 12 percent at the service center. Weitzel said school officials are still examining where other cuts can be made.

In most cases, the people whose jobs are being cut have the right to administrative and board hearings. Hudson said some board dates have been set aside for such meetings.

School administrators have addressed other ways of saving money, including offering early retirement and early resignation to some staff. Weitzel said it is too soon to tell who could take advantage of these offers.

Voters approved nearly $700 million in November 2001 for construction and technology improvements. Hudson said those funds cannot be used to pay salaries.