Upper Darby school budget will ease some planned cuts

When the Upper Darby school board meets Tuesday night to pass a final budget, residents will hear good news: Some elementary art, music, and physical education jobs slated for elimination will almost certainly be saved - for now.

Parents who have been fighting for the restoration of the programs said they had mixed feelings, since some jobs will still be cut and there are few details yet on how the programs will go forward with fewer teachers.

"It's a good start, but there are a lot of questions that are unanswered," said Rachel Ruitberg, the mother of two students at Highland Park Elementary School.

In May, the school board passed a proposed final budget that called for cutting all elementary art, music, and physical education classes, and all librarians and middle-school language and technology classes.

Some of the middle-school language and technology teachers who were to lose their jobs also will keep them, according to a message sent to district parents by Superintendent Louis DeVlieger over the weekend.

DeVlieger said in the message that even though the state budget has not yet passed, administrators feel confident that about $725,000 in state funding that Gov. Corbett had proposed to eliminate will be restored in the final spending deal.

That amount, plus some savings in other areas, gives the board about $1 million more to work with, Board President Maureen Carey said Monday.

However, that is enough to call back only 15 of the 33 elementary positions that are threatened; none of the 10 librarians scheduled to be laid off is being recalled at this point. And only four of 11 middle-school language and technical-education teachers are on the list to return.

In all, about 25 professional staff positions are still slated to be eliminated, DeVlieger said Monday. The district will use $4 million in savings to balance the budget, and taxes are slated to increase by 3.5 percent.

Things still could change if legislators find more money for the district, Carey said, but "we can't base a budgets on ifs, whens, or maybes. If we get more funding, that would be ideal, but we don't know what is going to occur."

Carey said she viewed 2012-13 as a "transitional year," when art and music teachers will work in the classroom to deliver their programs there and help classroom teachers learn how to teach the subjects. "Parents are hoping everything can be restored. The question is, 'Can we sustain it?' " Carey said. "Right now, the answer is, 'No, we cannot.' "

She added: "We have to look at delivering educational services differently if we are to stay alive. We have to be flexible, willing to change. We have to deliver the best product for the least money."

DeVlieger said it was too early to say exactly what will happen this fall, since the state budget has not passed. "Before we talk about what the situation will be, let's find out for sure what we have," he said.