The stage has been set for teacher furloughs in Pleasant Valley School District heading into the 2021-22 school year.

The district’s board passed a resolution Thursday night that would allow it to furlough up to 47 professional staff members and 4 administrators.

“This is purely a procedural requirement under state law,” Dr. Lee Lesisko, Pleasant Valley superintendent said. “Nobody in the administration or on the board takes this lightly. These are people’s jobs and we understand that. But we are at an economic crossroads and it has been developing for years.”

Voting in favor of the resolution were Len Peeters, Laura Jecker, Todd Kresge, Norman Burger and Teresa Greggo. Sue Kresge and Dan Wunder were opposed. Donna Yozwiak and Delbert Zacharias were not present.

Thursday’s action did not officially furlough any teacher, only set a maximum number of employees who could be furloughed, according to district solicitor Mark Fitzgerald.

“This is a worse case scenario and it is required the district pass this resolution no less than 60 days prior to the approval of its final budget if it intends to furlough any employees,” Fitzgerald. “The district will continue to look for cost savings in other areas.”

Furloughing the maximum 47 professional staff members and 4 administrators would save the district $1.85 million.

The resolution pinpoints several economic factors leading to the possibility, mainly increasing cyber charter tuition costs.

“As the result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, charter school and Pleasant

Valley Cyber Academy real time costs for the 2020-21 fiscal year have dramatically outpaced the budget for the year,” according to the resolution. “On July 1, 2020, the district had budgeted $3.93 million for charter school expenses. As of March 31, 2021, the district has spent $9.57 million in charter school expenses, and anticipates an additional $3.5 million in costs before the year is complete.”

The district budgeted $900,000 in Pleasant Valley Cyber Academy expenses for 2020-21. As of March 31, 2021, it spent $3,357,058 in Pleasant Valley Cyber Academy costs to its vendor.

“The original deficits in combination with the increased charter school and Pleasant Valley Cyber Academy costs will result in a deficit by the end of this fiscal year of nearly $13 million,” according to the resolution. “The only way to balance the budget for next year is a combination of utilization of fund balances, taxing and reducing expenses.”

Several speakers during Thursday’s meeting questioned why the administration and board have not implemented a district-managed in-house cyber program.

“Our association first suggested developing a district-managed cyber program using Pleasant Valley teachers last summer,” said Kristin Wolf, an elementary teacher and member of the Pleasant Valley Education Association. “The teachers did all the legwork and heavy lifting. We spoke to leaders in other districts. To this date, we have no district-managed cyber program.”

Chestnuthill Township resident Jason Kish said he was surprised to hear about the possibility of furloughs.

“We have amazing teachers working in the district who are going above and beyond and you’re going to sit back and tell them they may not have a job because you didn’t do what you were supposed to do,” Kish said in addressing the board. “Let’s not continue to be the laughing stock of Monroe County. We’re better than that.”

District officials are expecting enrollment, both through outside charter schools and the internal Pleasant Valley Cyber Academy, to remain high in 2021-22.

“The fiscal impact of this is simple,” the resolution states, “even with fully taxing the taxpayers of the community to the maximum Act 1 Index, freezing building level budgets, delaying capital projects, as well as freezing all salaries for the 2021-22 fiscal year … anticipated charter school costs for 2021-22 will result in a total depletion of any remaining fund balance.”

Kresge said she voted no in large part because the district did not have back survey results indicating how many parents may bring their children back into the district from a cyber program.

“I couldn’t get answers to my questions to help me make a decision, and that is perplexing,” Kresge said. “I want to know how this will impact the district academically.”

Wunder said he could have supported the resolution had there not been numbers attached to how many employees could be furloughed.

“Those numbers came from somewhere,” he said. “It sends the wrong message. It puts a target out there. The teachers didn’t do anything to deserve this. How Pleasant Valley managed COVID-19 was not the fault of the teachers. They shouldn’t suffer the burden of this.”

Those directors who supported the resolution said they did so because this was not the final step in the process and any official furloughs would still need to come before the board.

“If we don’t pass this, we’ll have a hard time passing our budget,” Jecker said. “I am confident the amount of people furloughed is not going to be the highest numbers in this resolution. In the end, we still have to vote again for anything else that comes after this.”

Of the professional employees who could be furloughed, 39 of them have direct contact with students.

The district cut 52 paraprofessional positions in 2020-21 and has regularly reduced professional staff and other positions through attrition.

Even with the cuts, however, some district officials said the anticipated academic impact to students will be minimal.

“The resulting impact on academics will show a minimal student/teacher ratio increase from 12:1 currently to 14:1 for the 2021-22 school year,” the resolution states. “The new student/teacher ratio of 14:1 is comparable to ratios currently in other districts in the region and remains well within school board policies for student/teacher ratios within the district.”