Superintendent's 2015-16 plan includes 348 new employees

Published: Tuesday, March 3, 2015 at 10:09 p.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, March 3, 2015 at 10:09 p.m.

The School District wants to add 348 new employees in 2015-16, a 5.9 percent increase in manpower compared to this year.

Superintendent of Schools George Tomyn and his administrative team unveiled the new staffing plan to the School Board on Tuesday.

The staffing plan is a wish list that will need School Board approval and adequate funding from the state to come to fruition.

The additions will be paid mostly from new 1 mill property tax dollars $15 million annually that will become available for the 2015-16 school year and continue to 2018-19.

The referendum, approved by voters in November, mandates the money be used to restore music and art programs, as well as add back physical education teachers and librarians to all elementary schools. The money also can be used to meet state class size mandates and bolster vocational programs.

In recent years the district has cut hundreds of positions. Tomyn said it's time to start adding some back to meet student needs.

The district wants to add 196 more teachers to meet the mandates set out in the referendum; 135 more non-instructional staffers, mostly paraprofessionals; and 17 administrative staffers.

A work session on Tuesday focused on the administration and district-level support staff. On Thursday, the district will unveil in more detail the school-level staffing plan.

The board was given a choice to continue the work session into Tuesday afternoon in order to get an overview of the school-level plan. All but one board member said they wanted to continue the work session until Thursday.

Continued here:
Superintendent's 2015-16 plan includes 348 new employees