State schools chief cuts some 50 jobs

State Education Superintendent Mick Zais is restructuring the department's administrative offices in an effort to improve efficiency and effectiveness, and it's involved the elimination of about 50 positions since May.

Twenty-three of the job reductions came from voluntary resignations or retirements, but 27 others were reductions in force. Local school leaders may have different contacts at the state level, but the services and programs in schools shouldn't be affected, said Jay W. Ragley, the department's deputy superintendent for legislative and public affairs.

"A dollar less in administration is a dollar more for classrooms," Ragley said of Zais' philosophy on spending.

The state faced a projected $700 million shortfall earlier this year, and Zais recommended a number of cuts to help bridge the gap. He suggested a 15 percent cut to the state's administrative offices for the current fiscal year, and that should result in at least $367,872 in savings. The reorganization happening now will help the state fulfill its budget mandate, and Ragley said more changes are to come before the end of this year.

Zais has been studying the department's operations since he came into office in November, so these decisions weren't hasty, Ragley said. He didn't know how many more positions would be cut or how much Zais hoped to save, but Ragley said Zais planned to exceed the required amount of cuts.

Two of the department's five main divisions -- Standards and Learning was one and Innovation and Support was the other -- will be consolidated, and those employees' duties will be shifted to other areas. The names of the new divisions haven't been decided, but services in those divisions included: developing requirements for what students must learn, charter schools, school buses, youth services, and facilities.

Nearly 850 employees work for the state Department of Education, and more than 450 of those work in bus shops across the state. An estimated 393 workers were non-transportation, full-time department staff members.

Ragley said the changes should help the department focus more on effective teaching, accountability for schools and the department, and technology.