Fort Bend ISD cutting nearly 500 jobs

The Fort Bend school district is cutting 483 jobs to help offset an anticipated state funding cut of $40 million to $50 million, and the employees in most of those positions resigned to receive a cash incentive.

The influx of more than 300 resignations, coupled with retirements and existing vacancies, dropped the number of positions left to cut to 68 by Monday, and the school board voted 5-2 that night not to renew those 68 contracts for the next school year. They affect 54 term-contracted teachers who have taught in the district for at least three years and 14 probationary employees who have less than three years of teaching, said Rhonda McWilliams, the district’s chief human resources officer.

Under the incentive plan, full-time employees on a Chapter 21 contract who resign by April 25 and end employment effective June 4 will get a payment equal to 10 percent of their 2010-11 base salary. Chapter 21 employees are librarians or classroom teachers other than those who help fill severe shortages in areas such as deaf education, foreign language and high school science and math.

District officials said Chapter 21 employees have been eyed for layoffs before other employees because of a state requirement that they be notified at least 45 days in advance to the school year’s last day of instruction that their contracts will not be renewed.

The district notified those whose positions were to be cut, and some teachers said they accepted the deal with the cash incentive to avoid having a contract nonrenewal on their records.

Last year, the district cut 463 positions, but did not offer the incentive deal. The bulk of this year’s job cuts are teachers, include 138 from elementary schools, 117 from middle schools and 130 from high schools.

From: Chron