As many as 20 teachers in 10 schools could be affected. The teachers will move to schools that are less well staffed.
By JAMES THORNER, Times Staff Writer
Published September 15, 2005
Hundreds of Pasco County students could find themselves with new teachers two months into the school year.
The school district announced plans to transfer some teachers from schools where teachers are plentiful to schools it considers less well staffed.
Assistant superintendent Ruth Reilly said the switches could affect as many as 20 teachers in 10 schools. Hundreds of students, but probably fewer than 1,000, would change teachers.
The district won't finalize the list of donor and receiver schools until Monday, but most schools losing teachers are in rural areas not yet overwhelmed by housing construction, Reilly said.
The switches have everything to do with school financing. The district flubbed its enrollment growth projections this year.
It predicted that schools would register 3,300 new students on opening day, Aug. 8, but the latest count shows growth of between 2,500 and 2,600 new students.
Why was the district off so much?
It extrapolated from last year's enrollment increase of 3,200 students. Some district officials suspect that number was unnaturally high owing to hurricane evacuees moving to Pasco.
Or it could be because Pasco purged high school dropouts and other no-shows from the rolls earlier than usual this year.
"We're still trying to figure that out," schools finance chief Chuck Rushe said.
The state allocates money to districts based on enrollment. Rushe estimates that Pasco stands to lose up to $4.5-million when it sends its official count - about 59,400 students - to Tallahassee in mid October.
Shifting some teachers to high-growth schools could help minimize the financial hit.
Rushe preferred to change teachers in October rather than wait until later in the year.
"The kids aren't that far along with a teacher, so to speak," he said.
Another factor in the teacher switches is the class size reduction amendment approved by 52 percent of Florida voters in a 2002 referendum.
Voters agreed to cap class sizes at 18 for grades kindergarten through three; 22 for grades four through eight; and 25 for high school classes.
Pasco's 62 schools meet the class-size requirement if averaged together, but the law requires individual schools to comply with lower teacher-to-student ratios by 2006-07.
At a School Board meeting Tuesday, Reilly vowed to minimize disruption to teachers. She told the United School Employees of Pasco, the teachers union, that she would try not to move them across the county, if possible.
"Our goal is to place them in a school that's a good match," Reilly said.
